Los Telelocos

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Los Telelocos

Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

I decided to watch UHF in Spanish tonight ("UHF, the crazy, crazy channel", starring "Strange" Al Yankovic), and got a few surprises. Let's see....



"Blueberry daiquiri" apparently doesn't translate; instead, George asks for "the strongest thing you've got." Which still makes it pretty funny when a drink full of umbrellas is served.



The first poodle that gets a flying lesson from Raul is named "Satan," and he explains that sometimes it takes them up to five generations to learn to fly.



When Raul shakes up the ant farm and observes the result, he says, literally, "They remembered about my mom," which is a euphemistic way of referring to the best-known, and most likely to start a bar fight, of all Mexican obscenities. I was a little taken aback by that one.



Not surprisingly, "we don't need no stinkin' badgers" doesn't work in Spanish. Instead, Raul gets a delivery of three skunks and says, "Skunks? Skunks? Don't you think my mother-in-law is enough?"



"Strip Solitaire" got translated as "Naked But Not Alone." Go figure.



In "Town Talk," the hookers forced into weight-loss programs are no longer lesbians or Nazis, and "sex with furniture" becomes "sex in the kitchen... what's your opinion?"



Raul sounds very Mexican (the rest of the movie tries to use less country-specific language, except for the "red snapper," which is also definitely the Mexican word-- but then the names of fish change every hundred miles or so as you go down the coast anyway) and Kuni just sounds very strange. Spanish with a joke-Japanese accent is kind of indescribable.
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Re: Los Telelocos

Post by scottidog »

QUOTE

\"Blueberry daiquiri\" apparently doesn't translate; instead, George asks for \"the strongest thing you've got.\" Which still makes it pretty funny when a drink full of umbrellas is served. I'm not sure, but it seems that in the commentary Al makes reference to that being the actual line he wrote. And he said that he wanted a much bigger, foo-foo drink to be delivered. But he got what we saw.



QUOTE ...\"They remembered about my mom,\" which is a euphemistic way of referring to the best-known, and most likely to start a bar fight, of all Mexican obscenities. I was a little taken aback by that one...



Strip Solitaire\" got translated as \"Naked But Not Alone.\" Go figure.



And that's a euphemism for something else.



Thanks for the insight, OE!
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Re: Los Telelocos

Post by Grom »

QUOTE And he said that he wanted a much bigger, foo-foo drink to be delivered.



Kind of like the drink Garth has in "Wayne's World"?
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Re: Los Telelocos

Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

QUOTE QUOTE

\"Blueberry daiquiri\" apparently doesn't translate; instead, George asks for \"the strongest thing you've got.\" Which still makes it pretty funny when a drink full of umbrellas is served. I'm not sure, but it seems that in the commentary Al makes reference to that being the actual line he wrote.



If Al wrote "the strongest thing you've got" then why did he say "blueberry daiquiri?" Did Jay Levey in Gandhi costume threaten to beat him up? :dontgetit:



BTW, I once actually ordered "the strongest thing you've got" in an airport bar (for my sister the white-knuckled traveler, after we flew over Kilauea...while it was erupting... in a small Aloha plane)



And I once ordered a Pangalactic Gargleblaster for myself in a restaurant... but that's another story. 8)
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Re: Los Telelocos

Post by scottidog »

QUOTE

If Al wrote \"the strongest thing you've got\" then why did he say \"blueberry daiquiri?\"



I don't know. Maybe I hallucinated it. Maybe I ordered the strongest thing they had. Blueberry Daquiri? Is that even a real drink? I suppose you could make a daquiri out of just about any fruit. But a blueberry? Why???



QUOTE I once ordered a Pangalactic Gargleblaster



At the Starwars Cantina, no doubt. And you lived to tell, er... type, the tale.
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Re: Los Telelocos

Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

QUOTE Blueberry Daquiri?  Is that even a real drink? Apparently it is, a quick Yahoo search turned up lots of recipes. But you gotta admit, it does sound funny.QUOTE QUOTE I once ordered a Pangalactic Gargleblaster



At the Starwars Cantina, no doubt. And you lived to tell, er... type, the tale. No, actually it was in Dallas. I was there to go to a Star Trek convention with a bunch of friends I'd met online. When we went for lunch, I slipped away for a moment to give the bartender a heads-up, but when I ordered the thing, the waitress wasn't in on the joke any more than my friends were. They were staring at me and saying, "You know, if she brings something, you're going to have to drink it." And I did. It was a blue margarita. I think. At least I didn't feel afterward as though I'd been hit in the head with a gold brick wrapped in lemon peel.



I'm going to have to watch that section of the commentary track again. But not tonight.
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Post by weird_el »

So, back to the original post -- I have a question.



Did the SUPPLIES joke work in Spanish? My guess is no.
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Post by Orthography Enthusiast »

QUOTE So, back to the original post -- I have a question.



Did the SUPPLIES joke work in Spanish? My guess is no.



You're right, it didn't-- they just yelled "Surprise!" in Spanish. But at least they didn't mispronounce it with L's where the R's were.
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Re: Los Telelocos

Post by scottidog »

QUOTE It was a blue margarita.



Maybe it was a Blueberry Daquiri.



Edited to add: On the important event of my 1027th post, I wrote about a Blueberry Daquiri.



:lookround:
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Post by weird_el »

Thanks, next question:

Were there any jokes/puns in the Spanish translation that weren't there in English? Every language has its own subtle metaphors.
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