Take existing movie soundtracks and run them through an English - Japanese online translator, then translate it right back to the original language. The line "...he died with a carrot up his nose...." translated to Japanese and then back again ends with "...he died in carrot nose up..." Just to add to the effect, the lips moving on the screen should only occasionally sync up with the soundtrack. This could make most of the movies that stink into comedic masterpieces.-- Grogster, Aug 06 2010 Classic cinema, thrice Babelfish'd, should be sufficient for amusement.
Possible to do with any movie using customer DVD software...-- Cedar Park, Aug 06 2010 If the original actors are not available for re-speaking their parts due to scheduling conflicts such as clinical death, an employment opportunity will arise for voice impersonators. Humphrey Bogart's original line "...here's looking at you, kid..." turns out to be "...here, children are watching..." (might not want to pick PeeWee Herman for that one). Mystery Science Theater 3000 will rise from the ashes!-- Grogster, Aug 06 2010 According to Babelfish, it becomes "He died the carrot on that nose".
Actually, if you repeatedly translate between Japanese and English, you get: He died with a carrot up his nose He died the carrot on that nose He died that nose of the carrot He died that nose carrot He died the carrot of that nose He died that nose of the carrot He died that nose carrot etc
In other words, it stabilises on the third iteration, and then has a cycle of three.
This raises an interesting possibility: can the settling-time and cycle-length of a translation package be use as a measure of its accuracy?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 06 2010 Chaotic system.
[+]-- wagster, Aug 06 2010 ...and then I died with a carrot up my nose. I could no longer provide my voice due to scheduling conflicts, namely my clinical death...-- Cedar Park, Aug 06 2010 //can the settling-time and cycle-length of a translation package be use as a measure of its accuracy?// If so, I want a gold medal for my translation package, which always outputs "Fatal error at line 130" regardless of input.-- mouseposture, Aug 06 2010 [MaxB], the on-line translator I used was "Google translate." I found it interesting that as soon as I put that string in, a little window popped up with a "Contribute a better translation" link. Fact is, I didn't WANT a better translation...-- Grogster, Aug 06 2010 [mouse], there is a comforting consistency in your translation package that would create the kind of aggravating movie soundtrack that makes one glad they brought their iPod into the theater with them; just the sort of deviously dubious idea I would bun if you put the idea into the HB...-- Grogster, Aug 07 2010 // you do realise that normal people outside were under the illusion that you programmers were supposed to be the intelligent ones? //
"normal people outside" ?
What ?
Who cares about lusers like that ? If you need documentation, and can't get everything you need from the code itself and the occasional inline comment, then best you just go to some place for oldthinkers, and do oldthinker stuff until you die, preferably quickly, cheaply, and without fuss or mess.-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2017 random, halfbakery