> This got me thinking: would it be possible to craft special texts that would mean one thing in one language, and a totally different thing when machine-transl

> This got me thinking: would it be possible to craft special texts that would mean one thing in one language, and a totally different thing when machine-translated in another language? That would be quite funny -- or terrifying, depending on the context. This is the subject of age-old jokes. Here's one that I know off the top of my head, but I'm sure plenty of others have their favorite joke translations. Rumor is that USA translators first attempt at automatic English to Russian and back to English was the Biblical Phrase: "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" (Jesus's parable about how even if you want to do the right thing, it feels like we act against what we want to do sometimes). Allegedly, translated into Russian, and back into English, results in: "The Vodka is Strong but the meat is rotten".