leave the sun behind me

the kinks

Laugh of the Day, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"(In Harry Potter) Names such as Knockturn Alley and the Pensieve are extremely difficult to translate... Translators must use creativity and sensitivity in rendering such names, and some are more successful than others.

The anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle's name (Lord Voldemort) that appears in the second book similarly does not make the transition easily into other languages. Translators have sometimes altered the names in the book in order to make the anagram work in that language; for instance, Riddle's middle name of Marvolo was changed to "Vandrolo" in the Hebrew edition, and in French, Riddle's full name becomes "Tom Elvis Jedusor". In Icelandic his name becomes Trevor Delgome."

HA. HA. HA. "It is I! Trevor Delgome! Fear me!" Like some kind of gnome or something. Oh my gosh. Those Icelandic Potter Fans must have some extremely strange idea of Voldemort. The French ones too. Elvis, I ask you.

ETA: OK, I thought Trevor Delgome was bad, but in Danish his name is Romeo G. Detlev Jr. Seriously, I heart this list. It made my weekend.

ETA Part 2: It gets worse.

I remember reading about these pirated Harry Potters before, but not as funny as this. China is the BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. Example: Deathly Hallows is Harry Potter and the Chinese Overseas Students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And there's also Harry Potter and Leopard Walk Up To Dragon, which is in essence the Hobbit, but with an extra chapter in front where some magic rain turns Harry into a hobbit. An excerpt:

"Harry doesn't know how long it will take to wash the sticky cream cake off his face. For a civilised young man it is disgusting to have dirt on any part of his body. He lies in the high-quality china bathtub, keeps wiping his face, and thinks about Dali's face, which is as fat as the bottom of Aunt Penny."

Here's a summary of another pirated one, Harry Potter and the Big Funnel:

"After six years at Hogwarts, Harry Potter becomes an intern sorcerer and is assigned to teach at the Honiton School. Harry has a painful time in his aunt’s house, as Dudley has met a belly-dancing girl. As Harry prepares to report to his job, Bat Bug warns him disaster awaits.

At the school, his students become wooden stools one after another. Harry doesn’t know whether an evil student is behind this, or if his old benefactor Hagrid is making a mistake, or if the shadow of Voldemort has returned. Did it have something to do with the big funnel?"

HA. "Hey! What happened to Hermione? Oh my god, you're sitting on her!"