My Dog Speaks Better Spanish than the County of Santa Barbara
Posted by paulrivas on:
Our new dog’s name is Barry. My wife tells people it’s for Barack Obama, and dresses him in an Obama Dog sweater. I say it’s for Barrilete Cósmico, the nickname Maradona earned when he scored the best goal ever.
I speak to Barry in chilango and porteño accents, and although he understands both, he doesn’t listen in either - all his commands are in English but with my wife’s Scottish tone.
Barry is a multicultural mutt, but he’s no dummy. When we saw this sign posted at the Sheffield Reservoir, he looked at me as if to ask, ¿Qué chingaos es esto, boludo?
Pretty much every Spanish word on here is either wrong or not actually a word, and to list all the mistakes would be to make the County of Santa Barbara look incompetent. Some of the errors are so bad, they’re even funny to people who don’t speak Spanish.
Los Perros De Ben Estar A Marrados means, “Ben’s Dogs To Be [something that makes no sense]”. Deben and amarrados should be one word each, which would at least make sense but still be sloppy: “Dogs Must Be Tied Up”.
Mo Munopatins En el Parque means, “[Nonexistent words] in the park”. There is no such word as mo, and monopatines is Spanish Spanish for skateboards, which wouldn’t have been the best choice in California even if they had spelled it correctly. They should have said patineta, but even nothing would have been better, what with the illustration right beside it and all.
Talk about disaster!
If decent Spanish translations cost $0.10 USD/word, how much would it have cost the County of Santa Barbara to get this sign half right?
My wife is a nurse and wants Barry to be a therapy dog, but I think he should go into the Spanish business.
Categories:
6 Comments
Comment by Andrew on
Let me guess, the pendejo responsible for that sign claimed he spoke Spanish on his resume and no one checks his work.
Comment by Yolanda Arroyo on
Of course! Me estoy muriendo de la risa y sigo riendome! Definitely, Barry is going to go for the Spanish! He is adorable, and bilingual! jajajaja! Y
Comment by dawn on
I want to meet Barry
Comment by Paulrivas on
Andrew - homeboy probably gets paid extra for being bilingual! Yoli - como dijo Diego, "Está perrón El Barry." Dawn - he starts obedience training soon, after which he should be good to hang out.
Comment by Wearwoolf on
Hi Paul, I'm new here. Thanks for highlighting the need for better communication efforts - in all other languages important to a city - in this case, in Santa Barbara. Who do we go to, to point this kind of problem out? I also wish there was a bigger organization that provided a proper forum for language experts (of local dialects etc.) to help with this kind of thing. - Cat
Comment by Valerii on
Barry should go into his namesake's business. Golfing, bowing, apologizing, dividing. You are mean to name a sweet dog after a man who is shredding the Constitution every day.