Saturday, May 12, 2007

Sith humor: better late than never

From my buddy Tam Gu Ja's lovely wife, L, comes this 2005-era link to a blog post by a dude in China (well, his blog lists "hk, bangkok, joburg") who watched an illegal copy of "Revenge of the Sith" with hilariously distorted English subtitles that reflect almost nothing of the actual English dialogue. I had a good laugh, especially at the sudden involvement of the Presbyterian Church in the Jedi proceedings. The blogger writes on this point: "This seemed completely random until I figured out that 'Jedi Council' was being translated into Chinese, then back to English as 'the Presbyterian Church.'"

I'm assuming that the crucial phrase in question is what Koreans would pronounce "jang-no," i.e., elder(s). The Presbyterian Church is called Jang No Gyo Hwae-- literally, the Elders' Church-- in Korean. That's a legitimate translation of the Greek presbuteros, which means "elder," from which our English term "presbyopia" (farsightedness associated with age) comes.


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