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Another Oops

Posted by csiunatc • 3/08/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: clinton

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in greeting Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, presented him with a red plastic button emblazoned with the English word “reset” and the Russian word “peregruzka.”

The gift was a play on Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s call in Munich last month for the two countries to “press the reset button” on their relationship.

“We worked hard to get the right Russian word,” Mrs. Clinton said, handing the button to Mr. Lavrov. “Do you think we got it?”

“You got it wrong,” he replied, explaining that the Americans had come up with the Russian word for overcharged.

Tax cheats running the IRS and apparently Babelfish for russian translators.

Someone let me know when this administration gets anything right.

User Comments

3/08/09

Anok

Do you know hard it is to speak Russian?

[reply]
1. 3/08/09
  
  Epicharis
  
  ^...and English, apparently...
2. 3/08/09
  
  Anok
  
  They got the English word right
3. 3/08/09
  
  csiunatc
  
  Yeah, I also know that when you are dealing at the level of oh i don't know.. Secretary of state. You find someone who doesn't think it's that hard to speak russian to check your work...
4. 3/08/09
  
  Anok
  
  This is true. I wonder who they got to do it? I also wonder if it was a set-up. I mean, how could a reliable translator mess up so badly?
5. 3/09/09
  
  Epicharis
  
  Anok, I was making a joke about your typo...you missed out the word 'how'...
6. 3/09/09
  
  Anok
  
  Oh jeez LOL! I didn't even notice it. (dyslexia)
3/08/09

Agit8r

maybe cicuit city priority fabbed them up a custom "easy button."

I guess this bring a new meaning (in Russia/US relations) to "Pushing the Red Button"

[reply]
1. 3/08/09
  
  Anok
  
  Oh!
3/08/09

satijournal

Russians can't be trusted so maybe they lied about the meaning.

[reply]
1. 3/08/09
  
  jhixon2
  
  haha I vote that
3/08/09

210betty

That language is poop! I speak gutter russian as they like to call it and you know I still get mixed up with meanings after 10 years. Why? Because if you don't live there you don't know right away when a word changes. And they do!

[reply]
3/09/09

Agit8r

Maybe one of Hillary's undersecretaries picked that phrase up at garage sale

[reply]
1. 3/09/09
  
  csiunatc
  
  They used the same employment screener they used for Commerce Secretary nominations.
2. 3/09/09
  
  Agit8r
  
  I have to wonder if Hillary is our best international face to put out there. This is after all the same person who said the Ghandi "owns a gas station in Saint Louis." Political correctness for ya there.