Comments on: Lost in Translation Stumper

By: Moish

Moish — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 23:33:03 +0000

One of my faves (actually the only one i remember)…

Pas de leur Rhone que nous.

By: Bassman

Bassman — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 11:43:24 +0000

I wondered about that. If I had read it phonetically I’d have gotten it, like the ones Sara posted.
I don’t really know French, but I know that ‘king in French is ‘le roi.’ Hence, Leroy and royal. Many words for royalty in English come from French. Blame it on the Normans (who came from Scandinavia.)

By: sara

sara — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:42:35 +0000

Thanks for the virtual high-five. I do remember the first bit of one…

pi terre, pi terre, pomme qui ne terra

But I looked it up and found these:

“Someone once showed me a book made up entirely of French poems that, when read out loud, sound like English nursery rhymes. I think it’s called Mots d’heures : gousse, rames (Mother Goose Rhymes)” [sara's insert: yep, that's the book Mme had!]

Lille beau pipe
ocelot serre chypre
en douzaine au verres tuffe indemne

Tu marquettes, Tu marquettes, Tu bailles effet pique

Et qui rit des curés d’Oc?
De Meuse raines, houp! de cloques.
De quelles loques ce turque coin.
Et ne d’anes ni rennes,
Ecuries des curés d’Oc

Enjoy!

sara

By: Pointy-Hatted Geek

Pointy-Hatted Geek — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:05:04 +0000

KJ-

I think I like it better in French.

By: Pam

Pam — Thu, 31 May 2007 23:10:44 +0000

Hey, no fair! Use real words next time, please.

By: Bassem

Bassem — Thu, 31 May 2007 20:57:57 +0000

I am a fluent French speaker and more than half of these words are not even French. Boo.

I thought it would be some kind of phonetic play in English. Humpty Dumpty! nice, I had no idea.

By: Glen

Glen — Thu, 31 May 2007 17:55:30 +0000

Wow, Humpty Dumpty huh? I thought it was saying something about a kitten shitting in the garden and making the soil turn sour. I was way off! LOL

By: Shann

Shann — Thu, 31 May 2007 17:33:18 +0000

Also, having just spoken with other French people, there is no Humpty Dumpty rhyme in French.
Having read it again, it’s like someone who does not speak French wrote it as they would say it with a French accent, but some of those are not real words.

By: Shann

Shann — Thu, 31 May 2007 17:21:14 +0000

Wow! That French is so bad I barely understood it, and I’m Francophone! I have no idea what it is, having never heard it, but ‘un petite’ is grammatically wrong. It should be ‘un petit’ (masc.) or ‘une petite’ (fem.). And that’s just the beginning…

By: Ransom

Ransom — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:25:30 +0000

David, your posts always make me feel like a dunce! :)