English Lesson

Central to one of Silvio Berlusconi's recent quests to become prime minister were the "three I's": "impresa, inglese, internet" (business, English, Internet). Although the objectives were - and still are - reasonable and desirable, unfortunately little has been done by both government and society to achieve these noble goals. Just take a look at this dismal translation into English of the Freedom Party's gift to their leader - it is so bad that it was suggested that an automatic translator was at work.
 
English, unlike many other languages, is loosely defined in terms of intonation, and many different accents qualify as genuine English - which makes it all the harder to understand it. This is the reason why it is imperative to normalize the perception of native English language speakers by non-native ones by subtitling it, so that people not familiar with the particular accent (which comprise, by some accounts, 80% of the English-speaking population at any give time) are able to follow, understand and appraise the intricacies of native parlance.
 
As lessons should be fun and informative, and the current Prime Minister is an example for both of it, it is only natural to choose a segment for which he is central - but first, a couple of concepts ought to be clarified:
  • Barrymore Defense (concept) - "What I am saying is true because when you object to it means that you are wrong", c.v. "This is my wife!" - "Exactly!"
  • buttplug (n.) - like a plug for the bathtub. Only different.
  • Home Secretary (n.) - Not the guy who writes your letters or brings your tea, but the one who is supposedly responsible that you're not getting blown up on the subway. Also known as Minister for Home Affairs (AU), Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (CA), Secretary for Security (HK), Minister of Internal Affairs (NZ) or Secretary of Homeland Security and Attorney General (US).
  • Last of the Summer Wine (concept) - TV show about old people in the North of England. Running longer than the North has been disowned by England.
  • post a sausage (v.), syn. 'hide a sausage' - c.v. shag
  • shag (v.) - c.v. post a sausage
  • tatty-bo jangle (n.) - tit









 

[This post written especially for A.]
 

Thanks!... even if I didn't understand so much... ...

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 02/09/2009 - 09:11.

Thanks!... even if I didn't understand so much...
A.

Sorry, forgot to automatically enable the subtitle...

Submitted by chickenshit (not verified) on Wed, 02/09/2009 - 18:37.

Sorry, forgot to automatically enable the subtitles - changed it now. Stupid me.