A radio quote this morning reminded me of humourous translation situations I have experienced myself. First, the radio anecdote:
A man was taking a shower and heard his wife shout out, “Shut the door!” The nimble minded response? “Je t’adore, aussi!”
Now, about my bungled attempt to buy a package of those chest-kicking French cigarettes from a kiosk in a Paris railway station. Hoping to keep my struggle with French to a minimum, my plan was to just say the name of the brand and add the word “please”.
When I made my request, the kiosk girl looked at me as if I were some kind of pathetic sicko. I blushed when I realized that my mispronunciation of “Gitanes, s’il vous plait” sounded to her like “I love you, please.”
Last one, I promise.
Our ad agency had couriered some time-sensitive artwork to Montreal and then received a frantic message from the publication, asking where our material was. We contacted the courier company and were assured that our package had been delivered…and it had been signed for upon receipt.
Who signed for it? “Someone named Sue Laporte”, said the courier. We checked. There was no one named Sue who worked at the destination. Then the penny dropped.
“Sous la porte.” Under the door! Sure enough, our package was found on the floor, inside a seldom-used back door.