On a stupid Japanese quiz show (Quiz Monster, I think), the question was "What US President has the name of some meat?"
Multiple choice: beef, pork, chicken, or ram.
Never mind that "ram" is not a meat. Rams are made of mutton. [ETA: Maybe they meant "lamb", which has the same Japanese transliteration as "ram" (r's and l's again). Except they showed a picture of a ram, with the horns and everything. Not remotely lamb-like.]
Do you know the answer? Rack your brains. Maybe there was a President Chicken. That is to say, a president whose name was "Chicken." The guy would have been pretty much unelectable no matter at what stage in US history he ran for office.
Still wondering?
The answer is "Pork."
For a second, I thought the quiz show was being clever about one of the hallmarks of the American political system, but no.
They meant "Polk."
Because "pork" and "Polk" have the same Japanese transliteration and they don't distinguish between r's and l's.
Hah. Hah. I guess you had to be there. And bilingual.
179 words | January 27, 2007 08:50 PM | Lost in translationOh, that's awful. Which means, of course, that I'm going to share it widely....
We've had presidents with muttonchops: does that count?
Posted by: Jonathan Dresner at January 27, 2007 09:10 PMOooh. Clever. Too bad Pork, er, Polk didn't have muttonchops.
Posted by: 100wordminimum at January 27, 2007 09:25 PM