Thailish

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From Zeyao Wu:

The Chinese says:

hé Tāngmǔ yīqǐ chī yóuzhá Māmā

和汤姆一起吃油炸妈妈

"eat fried rice together with Mama"

Notes on the Thai:

Mām̀ā มาม่า (Mama) is a brand name of instant noodles.

P̄hạd ผัด = stir-fry

T̂myả ต้มยำ =  Tom Yum  (lit., "steamed salad", i.e., sour and spicy flavor with galanga, lemongrass, and citrus leaf)

The correct translation of the Thai overall would be something like this:

"tom yum noodle stir-fry"

The person who translated the Chinese went beyond the call of duty in being imaginative.

(Thanks to Justin McDaniel and Pattira Thaithosaeng)



2 Comments

  1. wtsparrow said,

    September 24, 2018 @ 4:41 pm

    I tried to translate your tweet about this in Twitter, just to see what would happen. Result:

    Translated from Estonian by Microsoft
    Could not translate Tweet.

    Google translate was a better, but still amusing.

  2. E.T said,

    September 24, 2018 @ 6:49 pm

    I see a somewhat more grotesque reading of the Thainese:

    “Eat deep-fried mom together with Tom”

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