# Lazy media mistakes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379 "2022-11-22T14:31:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/61 "2022-11-23T18:25:05Z")
> [@TheTooth](#): > > An episode of The West Wing featured a scruffy English ambassador(?) who ordered scotch at a function. He ordered 16-year old Lagavulin, from the island of Islay. He pronounced it ‘Islay’ rather than ‘Eyelah’. Oops. My impression of that character was that he was a bit of a con man, that for some reason Bartlett liked to have around. I seem to recall Leo complaining about him. So an obvious mispronunciation was part of the character - he was pretending to a sophistication he didn’t actually have. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/62 "2022-11-23T18:30:45Z")
Going _way_ back, there was an episode of _ **The Invisible Man** _ set in Stockholm, in which a switchboard operator at the US Embassy tells David McCallum to meet someone at the “Sveridge (sounds like “Selfridge”) Hotel.” _Sverige_ (the Swedish word for “Sweden”) is pronounced “Sver-iye” (stress on the first syllable). Even a lowly switchboard operator would know this if she’d been stationed in Stockholm for any length of time. ---
**Author:** ![TheTooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/63 "2022-11-23T18:47:50Z")
Yes, that’s the guy. It’s still pronounced ‘Eyelah’ though. ---
**Author:** ![TheTooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/64 "2022-11-23T18:51:48Z")
That did occur to me as well but the other characters didn’t react to it as such. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/65 "2022-11-23T18:59:10Z")
> [@kwintenstraler](#): > > I was watching one of those airplane disaster programs. During landing the captain said “Gear down”. The program was subtitled and the (machine?)translator subtitled with “Downshift”. > Almost fell out of my chair Phonetically based transcripts are notoriously inaccurate and often hopeless. In one episode of _ **Frasier** _, restaurant critic Gil Chesterton mentions a fancy French dish whose name in the subtitles was incomprehensible. It’s worse when human translators have no idea what they’re talking about and just plug in words they know. Two examples: - There’s a Nicholas Roeg movie in which Theresa Russell talks about George Orwell’s _ **Animal Farm** _. The Russian translator rendered the title as “Animals in the Barnyard,” even though the book has long been known in Russia as _ **Skotnyi dvor** _. - In one episode of the primetime soap opera _ **Dynasty** _, a woman warns bitch Alexis (played by Brit Joan Collins) “You should remember the Boston Tea Party!” The Russian translation was “The reception thrown by the Boston Tea Company,” even though the historical event has long been known in Russia as _Bostonskoye chaepitye_. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/66 "2022-11-23T19:09:27Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > But I have a slight problem with them insisting on having a Christmas episode where Santa Claus visits Shimmer and Shine’s clearly Middle-eastern/Persian magical homeland. Living in Arizona we get people all the time complaining that it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without two feet of snow on the ground and frosted windowpanes. We just point out that the climate here is more similar to the Holy Land’s than that ever was. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/67 "2022-11-23T19:11:23Z")
Fair point there. I also wonder how our Southern Hemisphere counterparts feel about the whole “white Christmas” thing. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/68 "2022-11-23T19:21:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > There’s a Nicholas Roeg movie in which Theresa Russell talks about George Orwell’s _ **Animal Farm** _. The Russian translator rendered the title as “Animals in the Barnyard,” even though the book has long been known in Russia as _ **Skotnyi dvor** _. Please allow me the side question, was the book already known in Russia before the fall of the Soviet Union? Because I can’t imagine that it was allowed and common knowledge back then. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/69 "2022-11-23T19:24:08Z")
Apparently it was, because I was given this piece of information in early 1992. Keep in mind that Khrushchev denounced Stalin in 1956, three years after the dictator’s death. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/70 "2022-11-23T19:26:42Z")
Yeah, I know that, but even with denouncing Stalin, Animal Farm didn’t reflect good also on post-Stalin Soviet communism. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/71 "2022-11-23T19:30:00Z")
Be that as it may, it was criticism aimed directly at Stalin and his subversion of socialism when it was published in 1945. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/72 "2022-11-23T19:38:09Z")
I think I would have too ( feel out of my chair ) Another one that makes me go silently _Grrrrrrrr!_ is the media, usually printed/online refer to the thrust reversers on jet aircraft as “reverse thrusters”. That gets all our eyes rolling at work here at a maintenance base. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/73 "2022-11-23T19:43:54Z")
“Panzer tank” is another groaner. I’m guessing it’s a lazy conflation due to the fact the Mk V’s “name” is a _Panther_? Media: “_Panther, panzer…meh. What’s the difference?_” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/74 "2022-11-23T19:55:01Z")
I guess they just don’t realize it’s a redundancy: a Panzer in this case _is_ a tank! (In German, nouns are always capitalized.) More specifically, _Panzer_ is an abbreviation of _Panzerkampfwagen_, or “armored combat vehicle.” **Another Fun Fact:** _Panzer_ is also the word for the shell of a turtle! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/75 "2022-11-23T20:13:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > **Another Fun Fact:** _Panzer_ is also the word for the shell of a turtle! And the armor of a medieval fighter: a breast armor is a “Brustpanzer”. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/76 "2022-11-23T20:47:24Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Whenever a plane is about to crash in a movie or TV show, the oxygen masks drop down from the ceiling. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, and it’s usually something completely unrelated to cabin pressure, there are always going to be a bunch of yellow masks dangling from the ceiling, with a bunch of screaming passengers rushing to put them on. In fiction pulling a fire alarm usually results in all of the sprinklers in the building going off. In real life sprinkler systems are triggered individually by heat. No school or institution would accept the risk of easy mass vandalism from the former. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/77 "2022-11-23T21:05:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I remember once seeing Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings read a news item about Jupiter’s moon, Ten. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/78 "2022-11-23T21:09:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It’s worse when human translators have no idea what they’re talking about and just plug in words they know. It’s possible they’re done by bots. Lots of stupidity in same-language for-the-Deaf captions can be attributed to bots. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/79 "2022-11-23T21:19:45Z")
I’m sure many subtitles are generated by bots, just like many scripts are the product of machine translations. The examples I gave above were overdubbed by voice actors who I think were unfamiliar with the material. I’ve done such work myself and have always corrected the text when I knew something was inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379/80 "2022-11-23T21:27:31Z")
> [@TheTooth](#): > > An episode of The West Wing featured a scruffy English ambassador(?) who ordered scotch at a function. He ordered 16-year old Lagavulin, from the island of Islay. He pronounced it ‘Islay’ rather than ‘Eyelah’. Oops. That reminds me of one of my personal “didn’t get its.” There’s an old Deaf joke where a Deaf astronaut leaves earth, and discovers a planet called eyeth, where most people are Deaf, and everyone knows signed language. While he’s there, he meets a little hearing kid who is upset because no one understands him, and he says “Don’t worry; somewhere out there, there’s a world for you.” Anyway, a Deaf man published a book in the 1980s about a Deaf man who establishes a Utopia for Deaf people on an island called… ready for it …? Islay. I didn’t get that until I was almost done with the book, even though it was the fricking _title._ I was 20, and didn’t know how to pronounce it, until I looked it up, because I thought “Hey, maybe it actually means something.” 🤯 🫣 🫥 😜 🥴 Of course, it took me 20 years to figure out why ABBA was called ABBA. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lazy-media-mistakes/975379.md?page=5)