Do not bend – foto Smith
I left Lady a voice mail on her new Android fone and it converted it into text for her to read. I read what it said I said, which wasn’t what I said, so decided to read her poem into her voice mail and see what came out.
The fone’s mistranslation put a smile on my face.
Here are three views.
1 – Original voice mail and converted text compared line by line;
her poem line in italics followed by converted line in bold.
My Rock by Lady K
My luck lately k
Most people think of a rock as
Will she will take of a rock as
something stationary on the ground.
something stationary on the ground
There is a rock in me
that makes me go.
there is a rock in the next week …
I was bewildered
I was been release
by the mystery of my ambition.
for the mystery of my ambition
That’s when I found this rock.
yes for my phone this rock
This rock won’t break up,
this rock we’ll break up
and it doesn’t respond
and it doesn’t respond
to my questions.
to my question
This rock just says
this work to you says
“I am a rock”
I cannot lock
and it makes me go.
and make sure you go
~ ~ ~
2 – Fone’s attempted text:
My luck lately k
Will she will take of a rock as
something stationary on the ground
there is a rock in the next week …
I was been release
for the mystery of my ambition
yes for my phone this rock
this rock we’ll break up
and it doesn’t respond
to my question
this work to you says
I cannot lock
and make sure you go
~ ~ ~
3 – Lady’s actual poem:
My Rock by Lady K
Most people think of a rock as
something stationary on the ground.
There is a rock in me
that makes me go.
I was bewildered
by the mystery of my ambition.
That’s when I found this rock.
This rock won’t break up,
and it doesn’t respond
to my questions.
This rock just says
“I am a rock”
and it makes me go.
Lady & her scamp – foto Smith
finally had a chance to have a few quiet moments to catch myself up here. and finally read this… it made me giggle.
reminded me very much of Mark Twain’s story the Frog Jumping contest of Calaveras county (not sure I got that exactly right)
Were he has the original story he’s written in english…. then the french translation of it.. then the retranslation of it back into english.. and it’s hysterically funny. If you’ve not ever read it you can most likely find it in the library in one of his collections of short stories or perhaps even online. It’s a hoot.
I think the first time I’d read that was in college.. and I laughed till I cried. Not sure it would have the same effect now… because I sort of know what to expect… but if you haven’t read it I’m sure you’d enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing this it put a smile on my face…