Lost in Translation

Mitch4 sends this in: “I think I get it that each phrase in the third panel is supposed to be a disguising rewriting of a phrase which would trigger automated censorship. But the particular translations completely escape me! (Except maybe Crime==>Un-A-Law, on the model of “unalive”.) And tell me, how is “the body, melted Crayola-style” not just as much triggering as whatever it is meant to substitute for?”

7 Comments

  1. Unknown's avatar

    I think “Fry cook” implies that panel 3 is Diner Lingo. e.g. Adam & Eve on a raft: two poached eggs on toast

    No idea what the Panel 3 euphemisms mean. I’m put off by ‘prefurnished apartment.’ Why the ‘pre’-fix?

  2. Unknown's avatar

    Mitch, Adsense looks for words and phrases that advertisers likely want to avoid. I understand it to work from a (secret) list of such phrases checked against various criteria. I think having “murder,” “weapon,” “the body,” and perhaps “melted” within a short time could be an issue. I doubt they would think to include “Crayola-style.”

    I definitely DU this C though. I’m not sure if the phrases are nonsensical or have some deep underlying meaning. I really want Consul to be right but it doesn’t quite click. I recognize “hold the” as restaurant lingo but nothing else. Ants on a log is food, but not food you’d get at a restaurant of any type.

  3. Unknown's avatar

    True. Should have been more clear that Panel 3 terms resemble diner lingo but aren’t actual diner lingo.

  4. Unknown's avatar

    “Sad dentist” may be “sadist.”

    I’m trying to decode the words as Cockney rhyming slang, but getting nowhere. “Ants on a log” = dog? in a fog? “Hold the bowling balls” = hold my calls?

  5. Unknown's avatar

    Ants on a log is peanut butter spread into a celery stalk, with raisins on top. Pretty tasty, IMHO. The part that got to me was “The murder weapon was a prefurnished apartment.”

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