Off topic: Yummy pasta dish Thread poster: Fiona Grace Peterson
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A couple of years ago, the pizzeria where I was eating was offering "farfalle al tonno" (butterfly-shaped pasta with tuna), translated as "tunny with moth". Needless to say I went for the pizza (tuna-free). On pointing it out to the owner, he just shrugged...
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DGK T-I 
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:59
Georgian to English
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| On that basis, perhaps... | Oct 15, 2004 |
pasta moth-style is pasta that emerges after nightfall, and pasta butterfly-style is pasta that emerges in daytime...
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Andy Watkinson
Spain
Local time: 08:59
Member
Catalan to English
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| Hungry anyone? | Oct 15, 2004 |
There used to be a small bar down the Ramblas in Barcelona which every day would stick a blackboard out on the street advertising its special "tapa del día", which was almost always:
"GUTS"
They meant "tripe" but obviously had never heard of translators, only dictionaries.
I've always wondered if any tourist ever mustered the courage to say "Plate of guts please and a glass of wine".
Andy
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alz
Croatia
Local time: 08:59
English to Croatian
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| talking about pasta | Oct 15, 2004 |
What about "Angry feathers" I had once in a small inn?
In fact it was "Penne all'arrabiata".
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| Spaghetti on the rocks | Oct 15, 2004 |
These are fantastic! "Angry feathers" is great! I think spaghetti "on the rocks" is cute (spaghetti allo scoglio) - who knows how many dodgy translations for "formaggio di fossa" there are out there, "formaggio" being cheese and "fossa" a pit or a grave...
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These things happen not only with translations.
In the Peruvian coast, "choro" is a kind of shellfish. In the Peruvian jungle, "choro" is a small monkey. I live in the coast.
So last year I was on vacation in the jungle, and at a restaurant, I asked for a choro soup. When it arrived, instead of the shellfish, there was a monkey skull smiling to me from the dish. Of course, I had to eat it, to avoid embarrassing my guests. Well, at least this monkey was a vegetarian...
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| more Italian bloobers | Oct 16, 2004 |
A friend sent me a photograph of a menu (thought it was funny enough for a picture!) and, sure enough....
"Birra alla spina" (spina means "on tap") became "beer at the thorn" and "polipi alla brace" was "polips the fire".
There are also several funny websites, one of which describes "pasta con le sarde" as "pasta with the Sardinians".
I've also seen "pane grattato" as "scratched bread". Must take a lot of scratching to make those breadcrumbs!
Catherine
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| Speaking of restaurants… | Oct 16, 2004 |
After tasting all these delicacies, it's time to pay a visit to a seaside restaurant in Kusadasi, Turkey, which advertizes "25% reduced meals".
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| Take a rest... | Oct 16, 2004 |
Miomira Brankovic wrote:
After tasting all these delicacies...
...it's time to take a rest. Too bad the vending machine pictured in my avatar (see right) only gives "change", not time for a siesta Even worse if it provided Rest as in RIP...
In Italy when you're handed a few coins back after paying with a note you are given a "resto", just like the "rest" of us...
[PS I meant to upload an enlarged version of the picture but I can't find the instructions, could anybody point me in the right direction please? Thanks a million]
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| ask the server | Oct 17, 2004 |
Moving on from stuff to staff, here's what the menu read back home in a Bucharest restaurant: "If there is anything else that you'd like, as the server" - meaning the waiter. Which made me ask myself if I was in the right place after al... Of course, in Romanian the waiter "serves" you, he doesn't wait on you - so there you go: server! Morphologically accurate
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