English - The Real Deal

摘自Charles Berlitz的Native Tongues一书：

In a UN discussion of the Organic Act introduced in Tanganyika prior to independence, the English-to-Russian translator, the daughter of émigré parents, fluent in Russian but educated outside of Russia, translated the law as Organicheskiy Akt - literally a correct translation but a phrase that in modern Russian also means “sexual intercourse.” Perhaps primly unaware of this generally accepted meaning, she captured her audience’s undivided attention. She continued to develop, in Russian, the ramifications, modifications, and positions taken on this Organicheskiy Akt. The fascinated Russian delegates fisrt chortled, then laughed outright, even exchanging waves with the Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, and Yugoslavian delegates of the fringe who, delegation by delegation, joined in solid Pan-Slavic hilarity. The final clincher was a question to the English delegate from a non-Russian speaking delegate: “What do the natives think of the Organic Act?” The reply, which brought down the Slavic side of the house, was: “In general, they maintain a passive attitude.”

不懂俄语，发音部分的内容无从考证。不过，即便是编出来的，也是个很有趣的笑话。

Bonus video: OK Go - Here It Goes Again (You’ll get a kick out of this one, too!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Fun, Foreign Language, Translation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.