One from the translation follies file: a BBC report titled “The mystery of Ireland’s worst driver.” A single driver racked up more than 50 traffic and parking violations, giving a different address every time to prevent the authorities from taking away his license for good to make the roads safe. The word went out: FIND THIS MAN. But then . . .
It was discovered that the man every member of the Irish police’s rank and file had been looking for – a Mr Prawo Jazdy – wasn’t exactly the sort of prized villain whose apprehension leads to an officer winning an award.
In fact he wasn’t even human.
‘Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence,’ read a letter from June 2007 from an officer working within the Garda’s traffic division.
This is the kind of thing one expects to see happen with the Welsh language, a tongue that seems to have exported most of its vowels to Hawaiian. Glad to see the EU bringing about the same sort of muddled multilingualism that the UK has long enjoyed.
