Monday, June 6, 2016

Twisted Translations of Foreign Phrases

We fall back on a lot of foreign phrases to supplement those used in English. But sometimes they can be misleading. Imagine these alternative meanings.

Pas de deux - Father of twins.
Honi soit qui mal y pense - I think I'm going to be sick
Objet d'arte - Bull's eye
Cave canem - Prehistoric dog
Summa cum laude - The summer thunderstorms are loud

Ciao - Italian dog food
Hors de combat - camp followers
Et tu, Brute? - Is that your cologne?
Con brio - Prison cheese
Paté de foie gras - Astroturf toupée

Pro rata - Licensed police informant
Coupe de grace - The bishop's car
Raison d'etre - A French breakfast food
More majorum - Pass the butter
À votre santé - A clean election

Götterdammerung - This damned ladder's rung is broken
In loco parentis - A mom and Pop store
Mon ami - My own cleaning powder
In Toto - Dorothy's dog recent meal
Merci beaucoup - A bloodless revolution.

Bonjour - A French pop group
Tour de force - Inspection of police department
Café au lait - Coffee for a successful matador
Faute de mieux - The cat did it
Laissez-faire - Summer reruns

Liederkranz - Take me to the Big Cheese
Rara avis - Unusual rental cars
Après moi, le deluge - Call me later, I'm swamped
Hic jacet - Gunnysack sports coat
Advocatus diaboli - I'll like more guacamole just for the hell of it

Cul de sac - An ice pack
Auf wiedershen mein herr - I'm losing my hair
Fond de lac - I like milk
A la carte - On the wagon
Hasta la vista - Hurry, get new scenery




9 comments:

Bilbo said...

Your linguistic skills are admirable. And funny!

Anonymous said...

Funny puns!

John A Hill said...

Twisted translations, indeed!
Have a great week, my young friend!

Cloudia said...

Are these all yours Angel!!!???? So clever!!! I will say that I have called Raisin Detres the favorite breakfast pastry of French philosophers for a looong time. This is just the sort of word play that the Hawaiians, and many other cultures valued very highly. And rightly so. I think this facility tells a lot about your qualities of mind and humor. So glad we met. And thanks for your really sweet comment at my post today. ENJOY your day, Angel - that is great wisdom in and of itself.

Mike said...

35 brain twisters. I would need a long nap after doing that much thinking.

Elvis Wearing a Bra on His Head said...

These were great laughs.

Leroy said...

Full of like.

Gorilla Bananas said...

Excellent entries for the Basil Fawlty phrasebook. The meaning of 'Faute de mieux' should be changed to 'the cat did it', which is a far more useful meaning.

Dixie@dcrelief said...

"Paté de foie gras - Astroturf toupée"

Can we use this when referring to Donald Trump?