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Author
Language
English
Description
Originally conceived as a Portuguese-English phrase book, this literary curiosity was written by an author who, remarkably, spoke no English. With the help of a pair of dictionaries, Pedro Carolino translated a series of expressions from his native Portuguese into French and from French into English. The result is a volume of unintentional hilarity, praised by Mark Twain in his appreciative Introduction for its "miraculous stupidities." Imagine the...
Author
Language
English
Description
This book was, intended as a Portuguese-English conversational guide or phrase book, but is, regarded as a classic source of unintentional humor, as the given English translations are generally, completely incoherent. The humor appears to be a result of dictionary-aided literal translation, which causes many idiomatic expressions to be, translated wildly inappropriately. Mark Twain said of 'English as She Is Spoke' that "Nobody can add to the absurdity...