JetBlue has just launched what has got to be one of the cleverest ad campaigns of the recession. Its “Welcome Bigwigs” campaign targets all those former c-level execs that are no longer enjoying fancy hotels and private jets. The low cost airline has cheekily found a way to poke fun at the people whose lavish lifestyles were financed by the very recklessness that brought them down.   

Few companies have been able to humorously address the current economic situation. There’s of course a good reason for that – it’s not funny. But we can all get a laugh out of the super rich needing to downscale and “jetpool” with the rest of us.

JetBlue’s emphasis on frugality is directed to all “Hedge Fund Managers, Big Investment Bankers, Moguls, Tycoons” and others who “might be rethinking that next trip on a private jet … ” and the in-flight entertainment includes only a few of the “business news channels that can be complete bummers.”

Oh, and their free “potato chips are not a government bailout and there are no strings attached.”

The print ad is below, but click here for the website.

Bizarre translations are always good fun, especially when they’re incredibly long and random. I just don’t even know where to begin with this one, but it does make me wonder what goes on in your typical Saigon park.

Just the other day I was watching a DVD from Hong Kong. The movie was of the typical Hollywood, English language variety. And it had subtitles. English ones… well, sort of. The words were English, but when strung together they made absolutely no sense. Occasionally you could pick out where the subtitles came together with the actual dialogue, but it took some effort. I couldn’t figure out why the movie didn’t have either Chinese subtitles or the original English ones.

So after reading the nonsensical bits of poetry for a few minutes, I think I figured it out. My hunch is that the movie originally had Chinese subtitles and someone translated these into English, literally. An example – an actor says “Warmongering?!” and the subtitle, believe it or not, reads, “You are warm hungry.” Turns out this already has a name – Engrish, which is basically a bad translation of another language (usually Japanese or Chinese) into English and, sometimes, a bad translation of English into another language followed by a (better) translation back into English.  

I’ve even experienced this while watching English programs on Danish television – and those two languages have a lot more in common than English and Chinese! For example, I once read a subtitle that claimed a woman had just broken her window – when she’d just “cracked” it open. Which also begs the questions – do the people who write the subtitles even watch the video or do they just read the transcript? Isn’t context vital in understanding dialogue? And – how much really does get lost in translation? 

Here are a few classic translation errors that’ll make you second guess the words at the bottom of your screen, or in your hotel lobby:

“Bite the wax tadpole.” – the original translation of Coca-Cola into Chinese.
“Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.” – the “Pepsi Comes Alive” slogan translated into Chinese

“You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.” – a Japanese hotel’s guest directory from 1991 

“It takes a virile man to make a chicken pregnant.” – a mistranslated Perdue chicken ad

“I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” – George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., 12 May 2008

Whatever the legacy of George W. Bush, one thing is certain – he’s left his mark on the English language. After eight years of amazing comedic fodder, odd malapropisms and a slew of new words, we simply can’t “misunderestimate” the soon-to-be ex-President’s impact on the way we use English.

Thanks to President Bush we now have the words truthiness, mential, subliminable and ooching at our disposal. And we can speak freely about touchy subjects like “women of cover” and the “embitterment of mankind.” Not without a sense of humor, President Bush once publicly read aloud from a book of his quotes and laughed at his own mistakes. Now known as Bushisms, here are some of his best moments:

“Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.” – LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 18 October 2000

“I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.” – Greater Nashua, New Hampshire, 27 January 2000

“I hear there’s rumors on the Internets that we’re going to have a draft.” – Second presidential debate, St. Louis, Missouri, October 8 2004

“I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” – Saginaw, Michigan, 29 September 2000

“You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is fantastic that you’re doing that.” – to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, 4 February 2005

“Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” – Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 6 September 2004

“They misunderestimated me.” – Bentonville, Arkansas, 6 November 2000

“Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?” – Florence, South Carolina, 11 January 2000

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” – Washington, D.C., 5 August 2004

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” – Nashville, Tennessee, 17 September 2002

“People say, well, do you ever hear any other voices other than, like, a few people? Of course I do.”— George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., 18 December 2008