Lost without translation?

[Francis king]

oh, and in case any linguists bite me... I think I meant klesa, not kesa..

kesa, is hair, mane, etc, whereas klesa is poison..sorry about that...

[Pathless]

Originally Posted by Francis king

oh, and in case any linguists bite me... I think I meant klesa, not kesa..

kesa, is hair, mane, etc, whereas klesa is poison..sorry about that...

That's okay! Some weird people equate hair with poison, at least here in the states. It's always good fun to be sitting in a high-scale restaurant when some high-society zoot suit snob finds a dreadlock in his oysters:

"Ack!!!" And he almost has a heart attack. "What in God's name is this?!!" Horrified and aghast, this stockbroker summons the waiter. "I found this dreadlock in my oysters, it almost killed me!!" Choking sounds, and the man's wife is cowering behind her tea, trying to hide her tears. The children are slack-jawed and incredulous, awed into silence, except for Timmy, who at 16, has recently seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High with his pals, and now makes a grimace reminiscent of either Jeff Spicoli or Mr. Hand--there's no telling for sure on this crazy beat scene--and yells, pointing and jeering: "Gnarly!!!"

Meanwhile, the maitre'd has made his way over to the table, the offended first-class businessman is in a red huff, choking with rage and smacking his fist repeatedly on the table. The dreadlock wags in his other clenched hand and his wife is now sobbing. Exasperated, the entitled customer shouts, "See what you've done now, you dirty Mexicans!!!"

The waiter stands by as the maitre'd skillfully plucks the dreadlock out of the man's hand and replaces his dinner with a freshly produced plate of oysters, deep fried calamari, and yak butter. "Sorry about that mon," says the maitre'd, his eyes half-closed in a sage pose. "The dinner be on us now."

"Radical!!!" yells teenage Timmy, and orders more shrimp and chips.

So I have witnessed. Ah, the confusion of Americans, swimming in too much translation and commoditization, always confusing kesa with klesa and muslims with terrorists.

God Bless the U.S.A.