Comments on: How Do You Say ‘Hillary’s Gaffe’ in Russian?

By: Solid Citizen

Solid Citizen — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:24:44 +0000

The so-called “reset button” looks morelike a deviceused as an”emergency stop” device (“Noodstop” in Dutch, “Notstop” in German) The average journalist has little real life experinece with this stuff (unless they notice a similar device at their local gas station)

Hilary proferred a “аварийной остановки ” device

By: M. Report

M. Report — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:33:27 +0000

@ 50 HyphAm

That is what I was taught;
Turns out that JFK’s translator
had him use the correct emphatic
phrasing: _I_ am a Berliner.

By: tezzer

tezzer — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:34:56 +0000

y’all got it all wrong. You’re mistaking the ‘r’ in overlord for an ‘a’ in overload. Besides which, I think this whole thing should be thrown overboard. How’s that translate into Russian?

падение из лодки

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:17:31 +0000

Secretary Clinton’s only gaffe was that the button was given to the wrong recipient. The Obama administration should not have given the “Overcharge” button to Russia.
It was meant for the American citizens for the Economic Stimulus Package.

By: Oscar the Grump

Oscar the Grump — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:04:31 +0000

I just watched the news and saw Hillary acting as a cheerleader for Michelle Obama. They both are still glowing because of election victory.
I wonder how long the glow will last.

Its going to be interesting when they are both forced down to earth.

I just heard another thing. Pelosi likes riding around on military jets and gets upset when one is not available. These planes cost #22,000 per hour to operate. She must be worth it……

By: JED

JED — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:55:18 +0000

I think that Clinton and her smarter diplomacy were right. “Overcharge” and not “reset” seems to be the mandate of the new administration. Overcharge trillions in new social experimental spending. Overcharge the expectations of diplomacy. Overcharge the expectations of hope. Overcharge the Iranians for their new bomb and air defense. Overcharge all of the credit cards. Overcharge the coming taxes and inflation and price of crude. Overcharge the endless list of radical changes.

By: W. Shedd

W. Shedd — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:41:07 +0000

I’m not sure what crappy translator Oleg is using, but “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” does not translate into “the vodka is agreeable but the meat has gone bad” (instead we get “Дух бодр, но плоть слаба”)

And “out of sight, out of mind” does not translate into “invisible lunatics” (instead we get с глаз долой, из сердца вон).

Both of these translations are correct. I didn’t use some exotic translation program for this – simply Google translate http://translate.google.com/ I think even the US State Department has access to such high technology.

The problem with Clinton’s poor translation was not as complicated as you make out. They simply did it wrong. It was a very lame joke in both the US and in Russia. It was not some cultural mistake that illustrates the difference in American and Russian cultures. It was just a bad joke that no one outside of Clinton’s office would ever find funny.

By: Jim E

Jim E — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:39:26 +0000

Pretty sure “perigruzka” is also used in an engineering context to mean “proof load”. In this sense the meaning of Hill’s infamous button could be described as: “test beyond normal operating range to see if anything breaks”.

Completely out of depth.

By: Bama

Bama — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:55:57 +0000

Thank you, 58. Red Square, for understanding that the problem with this pathetic scenario is not the poor translation, but the fact that Mrs. Clinton is so provincial, so unthinking, so self-absorbed with her own grudges, that she could not figure out that a Russian could look at her sad little “overcharge” button and see it as a LAUNCH button. This is the brilliant woman who all my feminist friends just had to have as their president.

By: Jeff K

Jeff K — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:50:06 +0000

Oh snap! I was hoping Hillary was the one appointee that had some clue how to run a government. (no sarcasm intended) It’s going to be a long four years.

Off the point, someone should start watching how long the Dem’s continue to blame GW or their failures…I’ll bet their still referencing him in 4 years.