back to article Spanish town trumpets 'Clitoris Festival' thanks to Google snafu

A Spanish town got lips smacking in anticipation last week after the municipal website announced a forthcoming "Clitoris Festival". The powers that be in As Pontes, Galicia, had intended to trumpet the annual Feira do grelo, or "Rapini Festival", in honour of the leafy delicacy. However, while the original description in …

  1. Mark McNeill
    Paris Hilton

    "nip further slips of the tongue in the bud"

    What you did there. I see it.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It wouldn't be the strangest tradition in Spain

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer

  3. TRT Silver badge

    Ah, Google Translate

    Such cunning linguistics

    1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: Ah, Google Translate

      Their AI-based attempts are a taste of things to come

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: Ah, Google Translate

        Is this just the tip of the velvet?

      2. Scorchio!!

        Re: Ah, Google Translate

        "Their AI-based attempts are a taste of things to come"

        Ugh, now a picture of Kohlrabi and sauce has flitted across the threshold of my consciousness. :-(

    2. JLV

      Re: Ah, Google Translate

      Masters of many tongues

  4. Turtle

    Understanding.

    "The mistake is understandable"

    Only if you're Ed Gein.

  5. TeeCee Gold badge

    Good thing it wasn't a more serious slip of the tongue by Google, or they could have ended up in the shit.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Soon they'll report

      The highest attendance for 200 years to the festival

      1. nsld
        Coat

        Re: Soon they'll report

        That assumes they can find it.,,,,,,,,

        1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

          Re: Soon they'll report

          Clearly a cosy Galician spot.

    2. JLV

      If your tongue just is a slip away from matters fecal, you might wanna suggest to your partner that a bath is in order. Just saying.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I thought party conference season was over?

  7. ratfox
    Coat

    Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd

    Anfonwch unrhyw waith i'w gyfieithu

    1. Baskitcaise
      Coat

      Re: Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd

      Rwyf wedi gadael fy ambarél ar y trên gyda russian sy'n siarad unrhyw Gymraeg

    2. Jedit Silver badge

      Re: Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd

      Sorry, guys - I can't tell which of those words is the Welsh for "clitoris".

      Though, according to Google Translate the answer is probably "all of them". It's like the end of Being John Malkovich, except with clits.

      1. Captain Badmouth
        Paris Hilton

        Re: Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd

        It's after a classic snafu whereby an email containing a road sign message for translation from English to Welsh was replied to with the standard message :

        "I'm not in the office at the moment, please send any work for translation...." etc. which duly appeared on the road sign.

        Something like that, anyway.

        Paris : You'd know if she was in the office

        1. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
          Facepalm

          Re: Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd

          Sort of like this goof.

  8. captain veg Silver badge

    according to the standard respository of all knowledge

    The English language version of the Galician "grelo" Wikipedia page states that "the buds somewhat resemble broccoli, but do not form a large head" and that it "is known for its slightly bitter taste".

    So now you know what you're looking for.

    -A.

  9. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Well that's me cancelling my holiday.I even fully charged my camera battery. Such disappointment.

    On another note, if Spanish don't want mistranslations speak Spanish in Spain (or English on Costa Del Crime), regional variations are best kept for comedians to poke fun at (know what I mean Cornwallians)

    1. captain veg Silver badge

      Spanish in Spain

      That would be Castellano. The language of the Castile region. It's just one of the Iberian languages, the one that happens to have an army. The others are not "regional variations"; one of them isn't even Romance, nor even Indo-European. As alluded to in the article, Galego is closer to Portuguese than to Castilian.

      -A.

      1. Daniel B.

        Re: Spanish in Spain

        That would be Castellano.

        It always amuses me that the Spanish language is known as Spanish everywhere but the actual country where the language was born.

        1. Dan 55 Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: Spanish in Spain

          That's because Spain's not a country, but 17 regions thrown together who all hate each other.

          1. Aleve Sicofante

            Re: Spanish in Spain

            Wrong. We all just hate Catalonians and Basques because they're greedy. The rest of us get along very nicely.

    2. John Sanders
      Pint

      You won a beer from me sir

      The dialects of some Spanish reasons are there so local politicians can justify spending money on the local Kultur! (AKA a political SCAM)

      My take is that if you need to spend money on the Kultur is because no one uses it for anything serious.

      1. Mark 85

        Re: You won a beer from me sir

        It's also called "getting the tourists to come here and spend money". Much of "culture" has to do with the tourist industry or so it seems.

  10. Dan 55 Silver badge
    FAIL

    What's "cheapskate" in Galician?

    "It's a very serious error on the part of Google and we are thinking about making an official complaint"

    No, try properly translating your text and proofreading it before publishing instead of just copying and pasting it. It seems it was from Galician to Spanish so it shouldn't be that costly.

    1. Alister
      Thumb Up

      Re: What's "cheapskate" in Galician?

      Exactly, no-one should be using Google translate for official documents (or websites), it just isn't clever enough yet to deal with the myriad of variations in human language.

      And people misuse it without checking what it is the algorithms think they are translating, too.

      Al

  11. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    Galician to Spanish?

    Are these people really so insular that they have no one locally capable of speaking the national language of the country they live in? How do they deal with the outside world?

    1. captain veg Silver badge

      Re: Galician to Spanish?

      I dare say that there are English speakers (e.g Glaswegians) that you might have difficulty comprehending. And that really is just a regional variation, not a completely separate language.

      -A.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge
        Mushroom

        Re: Galician to Spanish?

        Ooh, you're so going to burn.

      2. Glenturret Single Malt

        Re: Galician to Spanish?

        You jist watch yer lip, Jimmy.

      3. JLV

        Re: Galician to Spanish?

        No doubt. But he's saying that Glaswegians surely must understand English, not the other way around. Esp Glaswegians on public payroll.

    2. John Sanders
      Holmes

      Re: Galician to Spanish?

      They have to pretend my friend, how else do they get subsidies for their local Kultur?

      So many hungry mouths to feed...

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In other news...

    A mistranslation of their "Coq au vin" resulted in a pornographic scenario somewhat resembling the "Bang Bus".

    1. Captain Badmouth
      Coat

      Re: In other news...

      I thought "Coq au vin" referred to female susceptibility to alcohol?

      Mines the one with "That Crazy Frenchwoman" in the pocket.

  13. frank ly

    re. "tiller"

    It's what you use to steer the love boat.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ah! Clitoris

    We had one of them growing up our wall.

    Lovely flowers.

    1. TitterYeNot
      Coat

      Re: Ah! Clitoris

      "We had one of them growing up our wall. Lovely flowers."

      Yes, they truly are a delight aren't they? I have such fond summertime memories, their rich scent filling the evening air as I wondered amongst the Pudenda bushes, dallying in the shade of the Labiaburnum...

      1. Mark 85

        Re: Ah! Clitoris

        Ah.. the Clitorati have arrived and reminiscing on the veranda.

    2. Felix Krull

      Re: Ah! Clitoris

      It's called a chlamydia, you cretin.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ah! Clitoris

        Ah, Yes! We had one of those growing up the wall, next to the clitoris.

        Lovely flowers.

  15. s. pam Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Finger-licking good

    When consumed with a Bud or two...

  16. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

    "we're none the wiser as to where the tiller comes in"

    The little man in the boat has to steer now, doesn't he?

  17. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    I think I'll have to report this to

    the committee!

  18. Rhiakath Flanders

    Actually....

    Grelo in portuguese is not only a vegetable, but also a slang for female genitalia ( don't ask me why, i never understood it... ), so i can kinda see a connection here, although i have no idea how to connect it with spanish...

    Trust me. I'm portuguese... ( I really am )

    1. David Nash Silver badge

      Re: Actually....

      Yes, that's the point. As mentioned in the article Google thought it was Portugese and "translated" accordingly.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  19. Martin Maloney
    Coat

    I just can't help it, folks

    Google translated the festival's slogan as "Eating out is fun!'

  20. chivo243 Silver badge

    Some Mexican restaurants

    at Easter time have a sandwich of sorts called a "panocha" my Mexican friends told me it means pussy... I used to live above a Mexican restaurant, and the sign was below my window. Oh, how the Mexican guys would laugh...

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My Hovercraft is full of eels.

    my nipples explode with delight!

  22. Simontas

    Delicacy? Really?

    Grelos are nothing more than turnip tops. In the UK we feed turnip tops to pigs, in Spain they feed the turnips to pigs. As for the translation... hmmmmm

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