Oh La La

Ah, French. The language of love. A colleague of mine had a French girl friend, and one day at work, I overheard what sounded like a provocative conversation in the Gallic tongue.

"Sounds romantic," I noted.

"Not really," he said. "We were going over tonight's grocery list."

Now it appears one French publication is also guilty of being lost in translation. A leading French newspaper, La Tribune, has decided to offer multi-lingual content on its web site. Unfortunately, rather than use human translators, La Tribune is cutting costs by relying upon Google Translate.

Let's just say this regrettable decision leads to some amusing and rather messy headlines, like this one regarding the late Michael Jackson:

• Good-bye with the "king the pop one"

Or the somewhat curious:

• Float automobile--Challenges of the car in corporation

And the downright unintelligible:

• Crispations with the National Assembly on Sunday work
  

Fortunately, there is one French phrase La Tribune does not need to translate--faux pas.