# Subtitle fails? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2022, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406 "2022-07-23T03:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/1 "2022-07-23T03:51:59Z")
I was watching _Rutherford Falls_ tonight. This guy states that he was called a shill for blind capitalism. But the subtitle said this: [![](https://i.imgur.com/Lt7OgOO.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/Lt7OgOO.jpeg) Anyone have other interesting examples? For the sake of this thread I am excluding live close captioning, because that is too easy to mistakes on the fly. So I’m looking only for examples of official captions of pre-recorded media where ideally the captioners should have access to a script. (Also interesting is captions that were obviously taken from an earlier draft of a script where lines of dialogue or sound effects are captioned that weren’t actually in the finished video.) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/2 "2022-07-23T07:04:38Z")
This scene from _Casino Royale_. The guy says “laisse tomber” meaning drop your weapon. The subtitles said “listen to me.” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/VUt2O7oXna4/maxresdefault.jpg "Casino Royale - Embassy Attack") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUt2O7oXna4) ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/3 "2022-07-23T08:49:59Z")
…I watched an episode of Legion that was just the more surreal and more confusing (and subsequently more awesome) than the typical episode because the subtitles were describing actions that would happen about 20 seconds after the subtitle was on screen. Turns out (as you may have guessed) the subtitles were just 20 seconds out of sync. And the episode was no more surreal or confusing than the typical episode. It did inspire the idea for a script for a short film I did in film school: but I just watched it the short film now, and it isn’t very good (but not bad considering the constraints!) so I won’t be sharing it here LOL. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/4 "2022-07-23T10:29:52Z")
[![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xFlKC0veggw/So3BpPV-a7I/AAAAAAAAACM/Ya1NjiOpZuA/s400/presbyterian.jpg) ](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xFlKC0veggw/So3BpPV-a7I/AAAAAAAAACM/Ya1NjiOpZuA/s400/presbyterian.jpg) [![](https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/image/2020/5/18/7f1c6b79-307a-47a7-b055-4544886cba19-screen-shot-2020-05-18-at-23555-pm.png?w=1000&h=505&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress) ](https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/image/2020/5/18/7f1c6b79-307a-47a7-b055-4544886cba19-screen-shot-2020-05-18-at-23555-pm.png?w=1000&h=505&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress) [![](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/swfans/images/a/ad/Donotwant.jpg) ](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/swfans/images/a/ad/Donotwant.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/5 "2022-07-23T10:43:43Z")
Didn’t see this live, as I don’t follow Swedish politics, but the Swedish National Broadcaster once accidentally put children’s TV subtitles on a national political debate. > **[Swedish political debate accidentally ran a children's show's subtitles](https://news.yahoo.com/swedish-political-debate-accidentally-ran-230838737.html)** > > Now this is how to make politics more interesting to children. A Swedish television station recently aired a political debate and, while all appeared normal, viewers who turned on closed captioning noticed something a little different. See also:... ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/6 "2022-07-23T11:23:23Z")
I was watching some Private Snafu cartoons on Amazon Prime and the closed captioning was clearly done by a (very confused) computer that didn’t know how to parse a Brooklyn/Bronx accent. Every time it was used, the term “technical fairy, foist class” came out as something different and surreal. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/7 "2022-07-23T11:35:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/\_xFlKC0veggw/So3BpPV-a7I/AAAAAAAAACM/Ya1NjiOpZuA/s400/presbyterian.jpg](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xFlKC0veggw/So3BpPV-a7I/AAAAAAAAACM/Ya1NjiOpZuA/s400/presbyterian.jpg) > > [https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/image/2020/5/18/7f1c6b79-307a-47a7-b055-4544886cba19-screen-shot-2020-05-18-at-23555-pm.png?w=1000&h=505&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress](https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/image/2020/5/18/7f1c6b79-307a-47a7-b055-4544886cba19-screen-shot-2020-05-18-at-23555-pm.png?w=1000&h=505&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress) > > [https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/swfans/images/a/ad/Donotwant.jpg](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/swfans/images/a/ad/Donotwant.jpg) I always wondered what scammers did for extra income. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/8 "2022-07-23T15:27:20Z")
One I’ve mentioned here a few times before was on an episode of The Amazing Race several seasons ago. A team was looking for the mat at the end of the leg and one of them said “We must be close… I can smell Phil’s cologne from here.” Closed captioning had “colon” instead of “cologne”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/9 "2022-07-23T15:44:16Z")
The subtitles for the opening credits of **Suits** originally had the next-to-last line of the theme song as “All this time, imagine this.” It took three seasons for someone in charge to figure out that it’s actually “Y’all step back, I’m 'bout to dance.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/10 "2022-07-23T18:29:41Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I was watching some Private Snafu cartoons on Amazon Prime and the closed captioning was clearly done by a (very confused) computer that didn’t know how to parse a Brooklyn/Bronx accent. From the op: > For the sake of this thread I am excluding live close captioning, because that is too easy to mistakes on the fly. So I’m looking only for examples of official captions of pre-recorded media where ideally the captioners should have access to a script. In addition to that, I should have been specific that I meant captioning done _by a human_. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/subtitle-fails/968406/11 "2022-07-23T21:33:58Z")
Everything has subtitles here in Israel, and mistakes are common especially in more technical stuff like cooking shows. One of the most famous mistakes, from years ago, is when a character said “Christian Slater”, and the subtitles _translated the name_ - as in, a roofer of the Christian faith.