Thursday, March 27, 2008

Lost in Translation of "lonely bed spread"

Lonely Bed Spread

There’s a very nice and attractive woman at work who interacts with me on a daily basis. I even go as far as saying that she flirts and initiates the flirting all under the pretense of English language acquisition. It’s nice. I want to like to take it further but language is an issue. We use her Korean to English electronic dictionary and two websites. So when she writes in Hangul and has AltaVista’s Babel Fish tool translates it to “lonely bed spread,” what does that really mean?

Lonely bed sheet… sounds like it’s from a “romantic” novel you can buy at the check out stand at Ralph's or some other mega supermarket chain we have allowed to flourish in the name of good business. Doesn’t it make sense to offer hardware tools at an American supermarket? I think so. Anyways, with soft music in the background and someone reading out loud from the book… the “ “lonely bed spread” awaited their embrace. He kissed her softly on her parted lips…” or it could be her describing her life. “My life is spent with helping my son get good grades and my lonely bed spread”... or it could be, as I learned yesterday, that her husband works and travels a lot. “My life is like a lonely bed spread. He works so often, I barely see him…”

Lost in translation. I ask her using very simple sentences in Babel Fish if she’s lonely. She says she’s very happily married with a loving family. Then where’s the “lonely bed spread” fit in? Is it one of those full size bed sheets that nicely fit two? Or a queen or king size bed sheet that can fit a family of four? When it comes to dating in Korea, keep it simple.

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