Either World Domination or Something About Bananas: Difference between revisions
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*** The various meanings of these words aside, this has led to some hilarity in the translation of the name of Russian leader [[Vladimir Putin]]. You see, pronouncing the word spelled "P-u-t-i-n" according to French rules produces a word pronounced ''exactly'' like ''putain'' (again, "prostitute"). As a result, the French Academy decided to spell his name "Poutine", which produces a similar ''pronunciation'' to the Russian "Путин"...only to realize, too late, that this official transcription now made French-Canadians think of delicious fries with curds and gravy every time they saw or heard the name of the leader of a major world power. To rub salt on the wound, word got out to English Canada and to the border regions with the United States (which are familiar with the dish), which all had a good laugh at the ''Academie's'' expense; word got out even farther when William Safire dedicated a disapproving "On Language" column in ''The New York Times'' to the subject in 2005. Even funnier--Rick Mercer (an Anglophone Newfie) had, in a brilliant prank, convinced then-candidate [[George W. Bush]] that the [[Canadian Politics|Canadian PM]] of the time (c. 2000) was a person by the name of "Jean Poutine" (rather than the actual Jean Chretien). And now "Vladimir Poutine" is President/PM/President of Russia. Presumably, they're cousins...
* Japanese is about as bad - in fact, the sheer number of homophones are one of the reasons why kanji are used in addition to kana. One particularly famous sentence demonstrating this is pronounced "Niwa no niwa de wa, niwa no niwatori ga niwaka ni wani wo tabeta," meaning "In Mr. Niwa's garden, two chickens suddenly ate an alligator."
** Ginatayomi is a kind of humorous Japanese wordplay based on ambiguity in where one word starts and another begins (as written Japanese uses no spaces between characters). Basically, a sentence with two interpretations, one perfectly normal, the other similar, but very strange.
*** ''Pan tsukutta koto aru'': "Have you ever made bread before?"
*** ''pantsu kutta koto aru'': "Have you ever eaten underwear before?"
** One (probably apocryphal) story goes that a man wants to say his hobby is fishing - tsuri - but accidentally pronounces it ''suri'' - pickpocketing. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
** And then there's what can only be described as a Japanese "[[Who's on First?
* ''Sumomo mo momo, momo mo momo, sumomo mo momo mo momo no uchi'' - "Plums are peaches, and peaches are peaches, and plums and peaches are both types of peaches."
* The Chinese text '[http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/SHISHI.RXML The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den]' takes this about as far as it goes by only using ''one syllable'': 'shi'. The meaning is changed by the words' tones.
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