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back to article Sacrebleu! Googleplex insists Bush is still le président américain

Google wonks beavering away at translating snippets of French into the English language might wish to take note of the following fact - their system thinks "le président américain" is "Bush". That's George W Bush, we suppose. Reg reader Robert spotted the amusing cockup when he tried to translate an article from daily French …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never mind that....

    ...what the hell is a "cease fire teacher" and how do I become one?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Was it not Le Mond

      That reported the British Olympic Cycle Team were helped by the rounder wheels on their bicycles?

      Slightly off topic I know, but I just wanted a dig at the French.

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      1. Gerhard den Hollander
        Reply Icon

        Re: Was it not Le Mond

        LeMond was (and most likely still is by the time you read this) an American cyclist.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Never mind that....

      First of all, you need to master "stop, Hammer time", glasshoppa...

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      1. toxicdragon
        Reply Icon
        Linux

        Re: Never mind that....

        Glass hopping sounds dangerous

        1 0
  2. benjymous

    It's just because Google Translate has a "suggest a better translation" option - enough people must've corrected badly translated stories about Bush that it's decided that this is the best translation.

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  3. Aldous
    Headmaster

    bush didn't loose

    he did two terms maximum allowed after FDR hogged the white house. i just defended bush now i need a shower as i feel dirty

    9 6
    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      Re: bush didn't loose

      You shouldn't feel any better about FDR's whoring for his 4 terms.

      Anyone interested in the pretty hilarious and depressing antics he deployed to stay (and die) in office while riding roughshod over any principle of decency and propriety is advised to read John Flynn's The Roosevelt Myth. You will wonder why anyone would name a street after such a guy.

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      1. Peter Murphy
        Reply Icon
        Stop

        You will wonder why anyone would name a street after such a guy.

        Winning WWII might have something to do with it.

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    2. Stoneshop
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Re: bush didn't loose

      If you want to use the Grammar Pedant icon, make sure your pedanticism is up to snuff.

      Primo, your title should read: "Bush didn't lose" (note the capital and the single letter 'o'), and secundo, "being cut loose from" does in no way imply that he lost some election, just that he exited the White House.

      4 1
      1. nuked
        Reply Icon
        Headmaster

        "pedanticism"

        'pedantry' would be better.

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        1. Stoneshop
          Reply Icon
          Go

          Re: "pedanticism"

          Pedanticisiology

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    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: bush didn't loose

      he just came second.

      Daddy's judges gave him the presidency (and yes, I have checked the results/figures/reports.)

      1 0
    4. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: bush didn't loose

      Didn't loose what? The dogs of war?

      0 0
  4. LesB
    Facepalm

    Muphry's Law strikes again

    It's a well-known phenomenon...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry's_law

    4 0
  5. Cliff

    Crowdsource, hive mind, etc

    Just goes to show basing facts on the accumulated wisdom of the masses is risky ;-)

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  6. Mr. Great Sage

    Everyone is wrong! Learn your government people!

    This is a Monarchy, and Obama was just the illegitimate son of Bush, who succeeded him. Gah.

    0 1
  7. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    Yes, commander! The president's brain is missing!

    I knew that there was a brain transplant involved. Policy decisions wouldn't make sense otherwise. Though how did give the president's brain a new speech processing area?

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Now lets be fair here...

    You can't blame Bush for paying Google up front for 4 terms so that they would keep his name in their system. He was simply a bit too eager. Besides; how was he supposed to know he would only last 2 terms? ;-)

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  9. Cameron Colley

    Sadly my favourite Google mistranslation is gone now.

    A famous Dutch Christmas-time character was translated as Hilary Duff.

    I'm not sure who'd the most creepy.

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  10. John Robson Silver badge

    Lies, damned lies and statistics.

    And which does Google use for translation? Statistics.

    Slightly surprising that Bush is still the most common translation for POTUS.

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  11. mraak

    This would imply that

    Google Translate is dumber than Dumbia himself. No seriously, why is Google full of these half assed products lately? Reminds me of MS more and more.

    1 3
  12. andreas koch
    Paris Hilton

    It's a default answer:

    If you type in "partes privees* de Paris" it'll probably also say "Bush".

    *CBA to find an accent aigu... probably hiding behind a - - - nevermind, forget it.

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  13. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    What bothers me...

    is that it's not a proper translation. I'd guess that phrase means "the American president". It doesn't mean a specific American president, so the translation would be incorrect even if it translated as "Obama".

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    1. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Mushroom

      Re: What bothers me...

      Oy!!! Who are you to question what the Americans say? Here, take a Bunker Buster to get rid of your ruler and replace him with a pro-American democracy.

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