Let Google Rename a Game
Chris Schenck
United States
Ohio
GO BUCKS!
Stop touching me!
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Use the Google Translate tool ( http://translate.google.com ) to rename a game. Start with the name of the game in English, translate from English to another language, then cut-and-paste the result from the second language into a third language. Then go back to English and see the results.
Cycle through however many languages you want, but you get bonus points for style with a smaller chain of translations. Also, post the language chain so others can duplicate the results.
Who can come up with the funniest or most interesting result?
I'll post a couple to get the list started.
Here's a tip: I recommend using all lower-case letters to start the translation. Sometimes Google will treat capitalized letters as a proper noun, and will carry over the word as-is. This makes for less interesting results. In any case, quote exactly what you used as your phrase.
EDIT: Looks like Google has been doing some cleanup on their translations. Some of the original entries on this list are now translated more accurately. So I wanted to let new viewers of this list know not to be surprised when some of these no longer work. Then again, with every hole they plugged, they may have opened others. Happy translating!
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Liz Gensheimer
United States
Plano
Texas
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Original: skirmish wars advance tactics
Chain: English -> Russian -> Japanese -> Italian -> English
Result: fight in the pre-war
This makes sense in a sort of strange way ...
(I have got to get back to work!)
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Liz Gensheimer
United States
Plano
Texas
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Original: conquest of the fallen lands
Chain: English -> Thai -> Chinese (simplified) -> Russian -> English
Result: Conquest of land is declining.
Google even added punctuation!
(I promise to walk away from this geeklist for at least 30 minutes!)
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J.L. Robert
United States
Sherman Oaks
California
If you want to play wargames, follow me!
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English -> Spanish -> Vietnamese -> Arabic -> Croatian -> Catalan -> English =
Live outdoors
This isn't survival. This is living!
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Steffan O'Sullivan
United States
Plymouth
NH
When the foolish hear of the Tao, they laugh at it. If it were not laughed at, it would not be the Tao. --Lao Tzu
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Original: Hordes of the Things
English > Finnish > Chinese (traditional) > Indonesian > Catalan > English
Result: Herd of East and West
Yes, of course I've herd of them.
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Steven Israel
United States
Durham
North Carolina
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Original: girl genius: the works
Chain: English->Albanian->->->->Vietnamese->English
(I did all of them in alphabetical order, skipping English.)
Result: Genetics Breakfast: One Ticket
Which sounds like something that might come out of the Girl Genius universe. Alternatively, a brand new game that combines Evo or Pandemic with rail game mechanics?
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Liz Gensheimer
United States
Plano
Texas
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Original: bang the bullet
Chain: English -> all the translators in order -> English
Result: AVC units.
Interesting mid-chain results:
Chinese -> English ... stroke unit
Finnish -> English ... stoke units
German -> English ... units avc (French introduced "AVC")
What the heck are AVC units????
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"that sci-fi guy"
Australia
Sydney
NSW
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Original: Dragon Parade
Chain: English -> Chinese (traditional) -> English
Result: Long Procession
(Not really - about 15-20 mins)
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Steffan O'Sullivan
United States
Plymouth
NH
When the foolish hear of the Tao, they laugh at it. If it were not laughed at, it would not be the Tao. --Lao Tzu
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Original: maze craze backstage pass
English > Romanian > Thai > Norwegian > Hindi > Hungarian > Chinese (traditional) > Finnish > Greek > Japanese > English
Result: In the background, a maze of madness
I like this one!
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A S
United States
Unspecified
California
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Original: stars wars : battle for endor
Chain: English --> Chinese --> Arabic --> English
New: Star Wars: Ex-combatants
A message of interstellar peace.
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Chris R.
United States
Unspecified
Missouri
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Original: here I stand
(Game turn order with English last.)
Chain #1: English -> Arabic -> Spanish -> French -> Italian -> German -> English
Chain #2: English -> Turkish -> Spanish -> French -> Italian -> German -> English
Chain #3: English -> Turkish -> German -> French -> Italian -> German -> English
Martin Luther might also have said:
Result #1: I'm here.
Result #2: Stop here!
Result #3: Do you think that here?
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A S
United States
Unspecified
California
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Original: berserker
Chain: English --> Chinese --> Arabic --> English
New: Violence
Concise.
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ian cam
United Kingdom
Staines
Middx
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English-Finnish-Chinese(traditional)-English
Animals are eating Sheboygan.
Weren't the forces of Law and Order having trouble dealing with one?
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Drew Simon
United States
Corona
California
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Original: Stonewall Jackson's Way
Chain: English -> Chinese (Traditional) -> Hindi -> Korean -> English
Result: How to stonewall Jackson
Apparently it's a tutorial.
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A S
United States
Unspecified
California
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Original: wizard's quest
Chain: English --> Chinese --> Arabic --> English
Result: Seeking to processor
Track down wily hardware config bugs! Beware when the rabid QA team frenzies, destroying all the nearby cubicles!
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A S
United States
Unspecified
California
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Original: broadsides and boarding parties
Chain: English --> Arabic --> Chinese --> English
Result: Internal criticism, the parties
What do you do after the raid? Obviously, it's time for a sit-down and some lessons learned, as the swashbucklers compare notes and try to do better next time around.
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Mateusz Sztrąf
Poland
Kalonka, Łódź
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Original: trailer park wars
Chain: English -> Polish -> Arab -> Chinese (simplified) -> English
Result: Star Wars trailer park
I wonder if it looks like this now:
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Michael Hanickel
Germany
Munich
Bavaria
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Original: Age of Conan: The Strategy Board Game
Chain: English -> Chinese -> English
Result: Age of Conan: Board of Directors of the strategic game
yeah, right...
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Michael Hanickel
Germany
Munich
Bavaria
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Original: Napoleon's Triumph
Chain: English -> Thai -> French -> Chinese (simple) -> Hebrew -> French -> German -> English
Result: Napoleon defeated.
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Elwyn Darden
United States
Richmond
Virginia
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Original: I Will Fight No More Forever
Chain: English -> French -> Spanish -> English
Result: I can fight for ever more
[check the listing for I Will Fight No More... Forever on the Geeklist Rejected Expansions]
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Jordan Stewart
Canada
Saint John
New Brunswick
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Original: In The Shadow of The Emperor
Chain: English > Chinese > Arabic > English
Result: Under the Emperor.
whoa.
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Joachim Pehl
Germany
Daubach
Rheinland-Pfalz
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Spank the monkey
english:chinese:serbian:english
Result : Showers is a monkey
Okay
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Patrick Carroll
United States
Carver
Minnesota
Games are not movies or stories; they're vehicles for creative decision making.
"Desire makes everything blossom; possession makes everything wither and fade." (Marcel Proust)
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English > Japanese > Greek > English: It Can Be Stopped
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Aaron Johanan
United States
Knox
Indiana
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Advance Squad Leader
English->German->French->Japanese->English
SUKUWADDORIDA advance
Not quite sure what that is but it sure is advanced 
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Steven Israel
United States
Durham
North Carolina
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I decided to see if the system was reversible - if we could take silly game names and make them sensible through multiple translations.
Original: hey pa there's a goat on the roof
Chain: English->Arabic->Croatian->English
Result: That year on the surface there is a goat
Conclusion: There are no limits to how silly a game name can get.
Also, apparently goats are fairly universal.
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A S
United States
Unspecified
California
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Original: mystery rummy : jack the ripper
Chain: English --> Arabic --> English
New: Rumsfeld ambiguity: the butcher, Jack
I am impressed that the default meaning for "Rummy" in Arabic is now neither a card game nor a drunk, but our old Secretary of Defense.
(Caveat: "Rummy" alone doesn't work, but with the word "mystery" associated with it, it does...)
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