(credit: The Star, Friday January 6, 2012)
All abuzz over ‘Ethical Clothing’
By JOSEPH SIPALAN and JOSEPH KAOS Jr
PETALING JAYA: If you are working at the Defence Ministry, be sure not to wear “clothes that poke eye”.
This was one of the many colourful descriptions of “Ethical Clothing” (etika berpakaian) that is acceptable within the ministry’s standards.
Netizens
on social networking sites were literally ROFL, which is cyberspeak for
“rolling on the floor laughing”, as they shared the link to the
ministry’s amusing English translation of the staff dress code on its
official website.
“Clothes that poke eye” is a literal translation of pakaian yang menjolok mata,
which is supposed to mean revealing clothes in Bahasa Malaysia. Other
finds included: “collared shirts and tight Malay civet berbutang three”,
which, in Malay, is berkolar baju Melayu cekak musang berbutang tiga.
Baju batik lengan panjang berkolar / cekak musang buatan Malaysia, meanwhile is translated as “long-sleeve batik shirt with collar / mongoose fight made in Malaysia”.
There was also “shine closed”, which was translated from kasut bertutup, or closed-toe shoes.
Another
was the brief summary of the ministry’s history on the website, which
read: “After the withdrawal of British army, the Malaysian Government
take drastic measures to increase the level of any national security
threat.”
The actual summary in Bahasa Malaysia read: Selepas
pengunduran tentera British, Kerajaan Malaysia mengambil langkah drastik
untuk meningkatkan tahap keselamatan negara dari sebarang ancaman.
The ministry took down the English translated version several hours after it went widespread on Twitter and Facebook.
A
ministry spokesperson said a clarification has since been posted on the
website, adding that page hits shot up remarkably yesterday.
The
clarification on the website said corrective action was being taken on
the related software to ensure translations were accurate.
The Thinking Teacher
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