« previous next »
Pages: [1]

Author Topic: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.  (Read 4179 times)

Manedwolf

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 14,516
We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« on: March 06, 2009, 06:08:44 PM »
Oh my. Well, there's a facepalm moment. Who is working in the offices, and why does it seem like everyone is reading the manuals while flying the plane?

Overcharge? I guess that might be appropriate, somehow... =)

(Was this supposed to be a spoof on the Staples Easy button, which Russians wouldn't understand anyway?)

Quote
Clinton’s ‘Reset’ Joke for Lavrov Lost in Translation

By Viola Gienger

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought to use humor today to improve relations with Russia, only to inadvertently invite her Russian counterpart to get the better of her.

Presenting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a green- wrapped box decorated with a bow and containing a mock “reset” button, Clinton said with a laugh that her “little gift” represents what President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have been saying.

“We want to reset our relationship,” she said before she and Lavrov began closed-door talks in Geneva as the Obama administration seeks to thaw a relationship that had been at its iciest since the Cold War.

Yet a glitch in Clinton’s presentation might have symbolized the frequent disconnects. The word on the button was intended to say “reset” in Russian.

“We worked hard to get the right Russian word,” Clinton told Lavrov. “Do you think we got it?”

“You got it wrong,” Lavrov said as they both laughed. He said the word on the button actually means “overcharge.”

“We won’t let you do that to us,” Clinton said in response, before getting more serious. “We mean it and we look forward to it.”

Lavrov smiled.

“Thank you very much,” he said. “It’s very kind of you.”

Clinton’s staff promised to fix the error on the gift.

The talks marked Clinton’s first extended interaction with Lavrov, who often had tense exchanges with Clinton’s predecessor, Condoleezza Rice. The U.S. administration aims to repair ties so the two governments can work on common issues such as a potential nuclear threat from Iran and the war in Afghanistan -- even while differing on NATO expansion and missile defense in eastern Europe.

Relations grew strained last year after Russia invaded Georgia during a dispute over a pro-Russian enclave.

To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Geneva at vgienger@bloomberg.net.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a.Otvr8wuyJY
Report to moderator   Logged

AZRedhawk44

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,984
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2009, 06:25:59 PM »
Our current administration seems to have a very hard time with the concept of giving meaningful or symbolic gifts.

Makes it seem like they are shopping the Taiwanese discount warehouse.
Report to moderator   Logged
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist."
--Lysander Spooner

I reject your authoritah!

Manedwolf

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 14,516
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2009, 06:30:42 PM »
Quote from: AZRedhawk44 on March 06, 2009, 06:25:59 PM
Our current administration seems to have a very hard time with the concept of giving meaningful or symbolic gifts.

Makes it seem like they are shopping the Taiwanese discount warehouse.

Aside from the error...it is a gift of state.

Is it really that hard to have an American craftsperson do such a thing in fine hardwoods, with the button of engraved brass in a Federal style?

The error is amusing in a sigh-worthy way, but what on earth has happened to our good taste? :|
Report to moderator   Logged

Scout26

  • I'm a leaf on the wind.
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 25,997
  • I spent a week in that town one night....
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2009, 07:20:28 PM »
What the button really really said was "We Capitulate".....
Report to moderator   Logged
Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.


Bring me my Broadsword and a clear understanding.
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing.
Take women and children and bed them down.
Bless with a hard heart those that stand with me.
Bless the women and children who firm our hands.
Put our backs to the north wind.
Hold fast by the river.
Sweet memories to drive us on,
for the motherland.

Antibubba

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,836
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2009, 12:28:32 AM »
Quote
but what on earth has happened to our good taste?

Not coincidentally, it disappeared when the singing trout was the #1 Christmas gift.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2009, 01:07:25 AM by Antibubba »
Report to moderator   Logged
If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic.

Headless Thompson Gunner

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 8,517
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2009, 12:31:24 AM »
Nevermind the mistranslation.  Why on earth are we giving toy giant red buttons to the Russian's?  Doesn't that seem to run counter to our own survival?
Report to moderator   Logged

FTA84

  • friend
  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 364
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2009, 03:15:52 AM »
My guess they gave it to some doofus intern that listed 'Russian' as a fluent language on his resume.  Time comes to translate "reset" and he runs to Yahoo! Babel Fish (R) translator for the info.
Report to moderator   Logged

Balog

  • Unrepentant race traitor
  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 17,774
  • What if we tried more?
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2009, 03:34:15 AM »
Quote from: FTA84 on March 07, 2009, 03:15:52 AM
My guess they gave it to some doofus intern that listed 'Russian' as a fluent language on his resume.  Time comes to translate "reset" and he runs to Yahoo! Babel Fish (R) translator for the info.

I'm struck by how likely this is....
Report to moderator   Logged
Quote from: French G.
I was always pleasant, friendly and within arm's reach of a gun.

Quote from: Standing Wolf
If government is the answer, it must have been a really, really, really stupid question.

MicroBalrog

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 14,505
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2009, 05:36:33 AM »
It actually says overload.

At least so say the Russian media.

Report to moderator   Logged
Destroy The Enemy in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

"...tradition and custom becomes intertwined and are a strong coercion which directs the society upon fixed lines, and strangles liberty. " ~ William Graham Sumner

280plus

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 19,131
  • Ever get that sinking feeling?
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2009, 06:08:37 AM »
What an idiot.  :laugh:
Report to moderator   Logged
Avoid cliches like the plague!

TechMan

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10,562
  • Yes, your moderation has been outsourced.
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2009, 08:04:25 AM »
Quote from: 280plus on March 07, 2009, 06:08:37 AM
What an idiot.  :laugh:

+1

To think we are going to be viewed has goofs by the rest of the world for the next 4 years.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2009, 08:32:04 AM by adively »
Report to moderator   Logged
Quote
Hawkmoon - Never underestimate another person's capacity for stupidity. Any time you think someone can't possibly be that dumb ... they'll prove you wrong.

Bacon and Eggs - A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a pig.
Stupidity will always be its own reward.
Bad decisions make good stories.

Quote
Viking - The problem with the modern world is that there aren't really any predators eating stupid people.

Dannyboy

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,340
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2009, 10:22:04 AM »
I guarantee that that would NOT have happened with Condi.
Report to moderator   Logged
Oh, Lord, please let me be as sanctimonious and self-righteous as those around me, so that I may fit in.

Hawkmoon

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 27,322
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2009, 08:00:03 PM »
Quote from: Dannyboy on March 07, 2009, 10:22:04 AM
I guarantee that that would NOT have happened with Condi.

Yes, but:

Condi = Class

Clinton = Crass

It's astonishing what a difference one little letter can make ...
Report to moderator   Logged
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
100% Politically Incorrect by Design

Dannyboy

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,340
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2009, 08:12:35 PM »
Quote from: Hawkmoon on March 07, 2009, 08:00:03 PM
Yes, but:

Condi = Class

Clinton = Crass

It's astonishing what a difference one little letter can make ...
True, but I was referring to the fact that Condi's specialty was Russia/Soviet Union and she speaks fluent Russian.
Report to moderator   Logged
Oh, Lord, please let me be as sanctimonious and self-righteous as those around me, so that I may fit in.

lone_gunman

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 192
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #14 on: March 07, 2009, 08:53:51 PM »
Quote
I guarantee that that would NOT have happened with Condi.

Right, she would have been off somewhere in Moscow buying shoes.  Of course that would be a good thing, because at least she would not have been working.  (oh, and please don't misconstrue this to think I am a Hillary fan).
Report to moderator   Logged

Perd Hapley

  • Superstar of the Internet
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 61,468
  • My prepositions are on/in
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #15 on: March 07, 2009, 10:02:31 PM »
You're saying that Rice missed diplomatic meetings, because she was out shopping?  ???
Report to moderator   Logged
"Doggies are angel babies!" -- my wife

lone_gunman

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 192
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #16 on: March 07, 2009, 10:22:08 PM »
That was a reference to accusations by the left that Condi bought shoes a lot during her tenure, and for some reason they chastised her especially strongly for going shoe shopping during the Katrina crisis.  Now, I have yet to figure out exactly was the Sec of State was supposed to do about Katrina, but that was the left's complaint.

My point is that Condi was not a good Sec of State.  Our international relations were at a low point during the Bush years, though so far Obama/Hillary don't seem to be doing too well either.
Report to moderator   Logged

Perd Hapley

  • Superstar of the Internet
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 61,468
  • My prepositions are on/in
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #17 on: March 07, 2009, 11:44:27 PM »
OK.  Just checking.  I did recall some blather about her shopping habits, but not the details. 
Report to moderator   Logged
"Doggies are angel babies!" -- my wife

El Tejon

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,641
    • http://www.kirkfreemanlaw.com
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #18 on: March 09, 2009, 07:58:58 AM »
So, did State use a non-native speaker?
Report to moderator   Logged
I do not smoke pot, wear Wookie suits, live in my mom's basement, collect unemployment checks or eat Cheetoes, therefore I am not a Ron Paul voter.

Seenterman

  • friend
  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 443
Re: We need a new Russian translator...Clinton, gaffe, Russia, amusing.
« Reply #19 on: March 10, 2009, 05:10:44 PM »
Jezz we suck at giving gifts. DVD's to Gordon Brown, a misspelled friggin plastic buttin to the Russians . . .

Who the hell signs off on these as good ideas? I think Obama needs to appoint an offical Gift Zhar to avoid and oversee situations like this in future!  :laugh:
Report to moderator   Logged
Pages: [1]
« previous next »