MacBook is lost in translation

Jonny Evans
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October 15, 2008
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 French website MacGeneration spotted this particular language foul-up on the Apple site last night...Apple's French website apparently made a few errors online last night, here it describes its new Mac as "Parfaitement Con", which any translation engine can tell you means something like, "perfectly bloody stupid". Pas cool, huh?

Comments (14)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 4:29am

Your translation of "not cool" in french is wrong. The right one is just "Pas cool". We use the same word as in english.

waiting for my Pro, inflight from Shanghai! (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 9:34am

wouldn't not cool, be "ne cool pas" ? -- sorry I know this is not really relevant, just curious.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 10:41am

well, technically, it would be "ce n'est pas cool" ;D
i how he was correcting it though, they both look the same.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 10:43am

I dont see how**

twelve (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 7:15pm

sometimes its hard to tell when to use "ne" and"pas". an easy way to remember it is its mostly just with negative verbs. when using a negative verb, write "ne [insert verb] pas". for example, to negate the verb "eat," you would say "ne mange pas". for an adjective, it's just "pas [adj]". "Ce n'est pas cool." The verb here is etre. "Ce N'EST PAS cool."

Kev Orng (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 5:14am

Language Fail!

How on earth did that one get through?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 6:07am

Probably a bored web developer who just deleted the last two letters of the word "conçu" (Parfaitement conçu = Perfectly designed).

By the way, 9 to 5 mac's translation of not cool is wrong.

Jonny Evans | October 15, 2008 - 10:06am

oh ffs people!!!

 

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 3:02pm

perfectly funny....

Fabs (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 5:21pm

That's hilarious, even apple's very own translator (in dashboard) translates it as: "perfectly stupid" LOL! I can't believe that one got through.

shlompsen (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 7:31pm

I think that "con" is actually a bit more vulgar than "stupid". You can translate "stupid" as "stupide", but "con" can be used to refer to a woman's anatomy in a vulgar way. Think "cu#t".

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 2:12pm

You're right "con" is a bit vulgar, but it's not used to refer a woman's anatomy.
It was quite funny to see that on apple website, I don't believe no one saw it before went online.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 15, 2008 - 11:30pm

Happens all the time at the Russian website. We're all having laughs as soon as Apple rolls out new pages.

Frenchie (not verified) | October 17, 2008 - 2:44pm

shlompsen is right. It means c***, but is now more used as "stupid."