Sunday blogging: interesting facts
December 9, 2007
Sorry about the lack of posts lately but work has been insane. In fact, I’m just taking a break from my current translation (working on a Sunday! Whatever next?) to share with you two interesting language and translation-related facts I learned last night.
1) What do Walt Disney Productions, Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, Lenin and Enid Blyton have in common?
2) We all know now that in Sudan, it is illegal to call a teddy bear Mohammad. In France, what is it illegal to call a pig?
Source: Russell Ash’s Whitaker’s World of Facts
No idea as far as the first "riddle" is concerned, but I'd bet the answer to the second one is "Napoléon"...
Posted by Françoise on December 9, 2007 4:25 PMI think I heard somewhere that you can't name your pig Napoleon in France.
Posted by xensen on December 9, 2007 8:29 PMAccording to Wikipedia, the most translated authors worldwide include the figures in your first question:
"The top five are: Walt Disney books, Agatha Christie, Jules Verne, Lenin, Shakespeare, and the next five: Enid Blyton, Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steel, Hans Christian Andersen, and Stephen King."
Posted by xensen on December 9, 2007 9:00 PMI was actually playing Balderdash (the game in which the goal is to come up with a definition or an explanation for a word) with my family not too long ago, and the answer to number 2 was in the category "Weird Laws." The part you had to finish was, "In France, it is illegal to call a pig..." We came up with some funny ones, but the answer was, indeed, Napoléon.
Posted by nicholas on December 9, 2007 11:59 PMDid Walt Disney produce a Jules Verne film that starred Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton? I'm not sure where the Lenin connection comes in.
Posted by Spanish Translator on December 10, 2007 2:13 AMWell done xensen, although you had to try and GUESS! I actually didn't find the exact reference to Napoleon and pigs, but it seems to be true, at least.
Posted by céline on December 10, 2007 6:42 AMPrevious: December 3, 2007
Voyoucratie >>
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