Still Lost in Translation: More Misadventures in English Abroad Book

Subtitled More Misadventures in English Abroad, Still Lost in Translation is an absolutely hilarious compendium of fractured English drawn from a wide variety of sources by Charlie Croker. These wonderful howlers can be found throughout the world, and most of us can quote (with some relish) favourites of our own. But can they match the wonderful signs such as that to be found at a skiing cable station in China? ‘Refuse the person without ticket or drinking excessively, and the person with hypertension, heart disease, neuropathy and simpleton to get on the lift.’ Or a leaflet at a sporting event in pre-democracy Hungary: ‘Sports in the rotting capitalist countries are the declared enemy of the Socialist Athletes who consider it their duty to worth the superiority of the Socialist races’. But it isn't just communist countries that come up with these cherishable manglings of the language: from menus in various countries, we are tempted with ‘corrugated iron beef’, ‘sad-faced cod’, ‘pee soup’ and ‘ice cream with rubber chocolate’. Some of the most entertainingly puzzling instructions recorded here really have one scratching one’s head, such as the following written on a computer components box in the Far East: ‘Please no plummet’. A book as diverting as this, however, should come with a warning: you won’t be able to resist quoting page after page to your nearest and dearest -- exactly as has happened in this review. Charlie Croker, who wrote the similarly entertaining The Little Book of Beckham also compiled the first book in this series, Lost in Translation -- which is equally quotable. --Barry ForshawRead More