Rack Your Brains

[Damini]

Because mine is on strike. I'm trying to remember, or find anything out about, a book that I think may, or may not, have been mentioned here.

It was a book of English phrases from sometime in history, written by people who obviously had never even met anyone English, and it was hysterical in its wonderfully cumbersome and surreal phrases. This is about as helpful as I get.

Does anyone have a clue what I'm going on about?

 

[Chilly]

it was an ancient phrase book for tourists from somewhere to england, or possibly vica versa. Thats as much as I know

 

[Munkey]

was it the one that explained "cottaging"?

 

[throdgrain]

Was Harry Potter and the Destiny of the Tortoise ?

 

[Dweller]

English As She is Spoke ?

In 1855, when Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino wrote an English phrasebook for Portuguese students, they faced just one problem: The didn't know any English. All they had was a Portuguese-to-French dictionary, and a French-to-English dictionary. The linguistic train wreck that ensued is a classic of unintentional humor, now revived in the first newly selected edition in a century.

 

[Wij]

English As She is Spoke ?

Fantastic find !

I also loved the fact that Amazon thought that as someone interested in this book I may also be interested in "Dirt Cheap Rims" !!

Too much funneh

 

[JingleBells]

Aha, I knew I'd read a site on this a few weeks back, now someones produced the title, I present: English as She is Spoke vs. Babelfish