Narrative Flood

Her original name was Fanny Wankmeister.

Posted by Chuck on March 22, 2010

Nothing dodgy about her except for her name…

And her wardrobe maybe, as an ambassador?

Posted by Rain on March 22, 2010

Being an American kid in 1991 with no knowledge of the UK outside of imported Blackadder and Monty Python VHS tapes, I had heard of the term “wanker” but I had no idea what it meant. It just seemed like a generic British insult, the equivalent of calling someone a “jerk” or “putz”. Beatrice’s name wouldn’t have registered at all to an American at the time.

Posted by Dave Gilbert on March 22, 2010

Her original name was Fanny Wankmeister.

Ooof. Austin Powers would have more self-respect than to touch that one…

(“Fanny” is still a tricky one, especially in sit-coms. The Nanny (I saw it once, okay, I was ill) had the opening line “she was out on her fanny”, The Simpsons had Marge trying to persuade Lisa to buy a swimsuit with “a cute starfish on the fanny” and so on. In case anyone doesn’t know, over here, ‘fanny’ means ‘vagina’ rather than ‘bottom’. Oddly, it’s a real name too, which tends to get special dispensation not to be funny. Titty Walker from the 1930s classic Swallows and Amazons isn’t so fortunate.)

“And her wardrobe maybe, as an ambassador?”

She dressed more conservatively in Space Quest V. Black suit, short hair, very long neck.

It just seemed like a generic British insult, the equivalent of calling someone a “jerk” or “putz”. Beatrice’s name wouldn’t have registered at all to an American at the time.

Yeah. Having British characters using it in sit-coms has often caused them to be censored over here. The Simpsons did it in a couple of episodes, Married With Children had Peggy being from Wanker County and a few other references… it’s definitely been one of the trickier words. Same with ‘bollocks’, which is the standard thing to have British people say – it’s an incredibly rude (not to mention ugly) word over here, which makes it all the odder that ‘bugger’ is one of the milder expletives. Language is interesting…

(A more serious, very recent goof was in one of the Mario Party games, which featured the line “Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic.” Spastic is a very, very offensive word over here, definitely not something anyone wanted to see pop on-screen in a kids game.)

(A much funnier one was The Tone Rebellion, in which you’re in charge of a race of aliens called ‘Floaters’. I remember reading an interview where you could almost hear the colour draining out of the lead developer’s face as he realised what kids in the UK would think of when they heard that. Luckily, absolutely nobody played that game, so it didn’t matter. Well. Not that bit, anyway…)

Ah, the joys of localisation…

Posted by Richard on March 23, 2010

Hah. In my current project I had a British character say “Bullocks” and my British wife was shocked. So I changed it to “bugger”, thinking it would be better. She corrected me in short order!

Posted by Dave Gilbert on March 23, 2010

Bah, bullocks are male cows, they’re fine. Unless you try to bugger them. Then they get… irritated.

Or so I am informed.

Posted by Richard on March 23, 2010

well, that’s the case with any cross-culture/cross-language media.

Just a random example: a prominent TV presenter here in Israel in an entertainment/celebrity show is called Guy Pines…but his last name is pronounced phonetically – essentially “Guy Penis”.

Hilarity ensues.

Posted by zipdrive on March 23, 2010

And of course, all the products. Pschitt soft-drinks, Crappi Candi, Stinco meat…

Not to mention the intentional ones.

Although I do think it’s more fun when it’s one language, multiple meanings.

Posted by Richard on March 23, 2010

The English language is “great” for words with countless different meanings at least there are many with multiple meanings if you want to translate something into German.

Posted by Rain on March 23, 2010

Paging Mr. File, Mr. Peter File….

A friend of mine studied in London for a year, and one of her first nights there, her student adviser said he’d come around the next morning and knock her up.

What gets me is how casually British people tend to toss around the c-word. (How’s that for a generalization?) To me, it’s the dirtiest of dirty words, but I get the impression it’s not as big a deal there.

Posted by Chuck on March 24, 2010

A friend of mine studied in London for a year, and one of her first nights there, her student adviser said he’d come around the next morning and knock her up.

Heh. That one’s very, very anachronistic – most people would giggle at that here too. There’s an old song that seems to have been written to amuse modern schoolkids:

A pal of mine once said to me
Will you knock me up at half-past three?
And so promptly at half-past one
I knocked him up and said: Oh John!
I’ve just come round to tell you
I’ve just come round to tell you
I’ve just come round to tell you
You’ve got two more hours to sleep.

Seems slightly punchier now.

What gets me is how casually British people tend to toss around the c-word. (How’s that for a generalization?) To me, it’s the dirtiest of dirty words, but I get the impression it’s not as big a deal there.

No, it is. It’s what The Bugle refers to as “the biggest of all bleeps” when censoring it. People might throw it round with friends or slightly drunk, but it’s easily the most offensive one and one of the few that can still be brought out to shock. Certainly it’s one I never use.

(Oddly, the t-word, which means exactly the same thing, has largely been neutered – a lot of people use it as a ruder version of ‘idiot’ when very annoyed with something. A lot of women use it too, which isn’t the case with the c-word.)

Posted by Richard on March 24, 2010

Whilst not exactly rude, any game that uses the word ‘pants’ when refering to trousers makes me giggle. That just goes to show how mature my 28-year-old sense of humour is.

I remember Morrowind being oddly pants obsessed.

Posted by Morph on March 25, 2010

I’m pretty sure I’ll never stop giggling at that. Doesn’t help that ‘pants’ is such a funny word anyway…

Posted by Richard on March 25, 2010

You’ve probably seen this, but…

http://fellowshipofthelegol.tripod.com/humor/fotp.html

Posted by Dor on March 25, 2010

Pants! Pants! Sing the praises of pants!

Posted by Richard on March 26, 2010