Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
"Lie Fallow" means "in your spare time, without a prior appointment" in Engrish.
Everybody loves Engrish, the surreal dialect of English found on signs, in menus, on clothing etc. in the Far East. Much of it seems to stem from blind over-use of dictionaries, where the non-Anglophone user picks one of the possible translations of a term at random. Here are a few examples I've caught recently at restaurants.
The breakfast menu at our hotel in Hecheng had some fine variations on rice porridge and its condiments.
Comments
I like 'with the theme of porridge'. Sounds like something a lawyer came up with: "Calling it 'porridge' could be construed as a claim that our product actually qualifies as such without reasonable doubt. I see a liability risk here. Can't we use something more non-committal, like porridgoid or porridge-themed?"
Posted by: Phillip IV | June 9, 2011 8:59 AM
Indeed! Though that sign sat behind cold dishes intended as condiments for porridge. "Porridge peripherals".
Posted by: Martin R | June 9, 2011 9:04 AM
So no porridge substitute or "I can't believe it's not porridge"? I'm disappointed.
Posted by: paddy | June 9, 2011 10:09 AM
Took a picture of a great sign in SE Asia - The Hilarious Institute of Clincal Technology. I thought it was funny too.
Posted by: The Phytophactor | June 9, 2011 10:23 AM
In Swedish, I think "lie fallow" translates to "ligga för fäfot", so this could theoretically be the name of dishes based on the feet of various animals.
Posted by: Lars Aronsson | June 9, 2011 10:43 AM
You can also find funny translations closer to home. Some of my favourite ones come from a restaurant in central Kiev. There you can choose between: "Crispy shrink", "The salmon under the blanket", "Bloater", or "Salad for the ladies who are willing to stay in shape" :)
Posted by: Tobias | June 9, 2011 11:05 AM
As the music swells, we see a panoramic vista of the Austrian Alps. The camera zooms in on a pretty dirndl-clad maiden (played by Julie Andrews) who joyously opens her mouth to sing:
Posted by: Hercules Grytpype-Thynne | June 9, 2011 12:02 PM
"With Theme of Porridge" makes me wanna order that "Szeschwan Style." :)
Posted by: Steven Blowney | June 9, 2011 1:14 PM
"Hydrophobic fattened when" is transcendent, quite beautiful.
I'm racking my brains for which modern poet it's a quote from.
Did Brion Gysin or Burroughs ever live in China? Would explain a lot.
Posted by: dustbubble | June 9, 2011 3:23 PM
*high-fives Hercules*
Posted by: Martin R | June 9, 2011 4:14 PM
This is one of my favorites...
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/then-well-grab-bite-404-not-found-15632
Posted by: Ted H. | June 9, 2011 4:16 PM
I feel guilty enjoying other people's bad English, since as I'm a prosperous Anglo my skills in other tongues are limited. But I think I could do better than that after a year of German or three of Latin. All related languages, but still ...
Posted by: SM | June 9, 2011 8:13 PM
You can find those things *way* closer to home. A restaurant in Stockholm recently offered "meat paragraphs" (köttstycken) on their website among other delicacies. They seem to have fixed that one but left "the bar is as always stuffed with a massive amount of digestif´s."
Posted by: KA | June 9, 2011 11:13 PM
(OT) I recommend the blog Mask of Eris, by a Finn matematician. Martin, you could almost be joined at the hip (apart from the gender, and the choice of science).
Archive for the ‘Lovecraft’ Category
http://masksoferis.wordpress.com/category/lovecraft/
Excerpt: “We of the Cult of Luv-Keraph believe that understanding is evil, and illumination not self-negation but self-abuse; and thus we abstain from learning, and urge you all to do likewise
God all over the place:
http://masksoferis.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/god-all-over-the-place/
Excerpt “As God is defined to be the most perfect being, if He exists, He must exist everywhere. Either He is nowhere — or He is everywhere. (Also, since it is better to have an ugly nose than no nose at all, God has a nose.)”
Posted by: Birger Johansson | June 10, 2011 8:07 AM
He's been a pretty regular Aard commenter since June 2008! I'll add his blog to my feed reader.
Posted by: Martin R | June 10, 2011 8:19 AM
You left out the perennial favorite: "Translation server not available".
There's a Chinese dish in the US called "ants climbing tree". (I have no idea of the original Chinese name, possibly it means something like "ants climbing tree".) There was a hilarious post back in the 70s when some Chinese food lover tried to order "fourmis qui montant l'arbre" from a Chinese restaurant in Paris. "English As She Is Spoke" came out in the 1880s.
Posted by: Kaleberg | June 10, 2011 10:33 PM
I'm OK with "Lie Fallow". It's the "Sock" part that I find disturbing.
Posted by: dogteam | June 13, 2011 4:22 PM
I didn't think to take a picture of the menu, but one Korean restaurant was offering a sandwich of "Flaming chicken tits".
The picture showed a rather ordinary broiled chicken breast sandwich.
Posted by: Tsu Dho Nimh | June 24, 2011 2:23 PM
I like the wet new modern age dining room. Who wants to sit in a dry one anyways :) Practical too, in the case of floods and heavy rains.
Posted by: elke | July 16, 2011 9:12 PM
When I was in Thailand the menus were exactly the same. The Thai translations into English were terrible!
Posted by: Sonia | November 17, 2011 11:50 AM