A Complaint Letter to the Publisher of the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook

A friend of mine was given a task in her senior english class to write a letter of complaint. She decided to do a play on the "Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook" (A Monty Python's Flying Circus Sketch) and write her complaint letter to the publisher of the book. However, the letter itself was shorter than what the rubric specified, so she didn't get as many points as she had expected. Anywho, she decided to give it to me and asked if I would publish it on her blog. I changed a few things, added a few more things in, but most of this is originally her handiwork. Please enjoy this letter written by a good friend of mine (her name will not be mentioned).

The letter is as follows:

November 18, 2010

Szendrey Marika

27 Cale St.

London SW3 3QP

UNITED KINGDOM

Alexander Yalt

Phonetic Phrasebook Company

46 Horton Terrace

London A12 3BC

UNITED KINGDOM

To the Publisher of the Hungarian-To-English Phrasebook:

I am concerned about the functions of your latest product, the Hungarian-To-English phrasebook, and what effect they may have on visiting Hungarian tourists.

I live in Kensington and recently discovered that a close friend of mine would be staying with me for a few weeks. She hails from Kecskemét, a city in Hungary, but wished to learn a few English phrases (rather than have me be her interpreter). So, on the date of November 2, 2010 I purchased a Hungarian-To-English Phrasebook from your internet store, and when the book arrived from the post on my front doorstep I decided to take a quick peek inside. I soon became aware of some very severe (and vulgar) defects.

I was shocked! The simple phrase “May I buy that book of matches?” in Hungarian was translated as “My hovercraft is full of eels.” in English. As well, the phrase asking to buy a pack of cigarettes was translated “I will not buy this record, it is scratched.” I flipped through the book only to realize how lewd the translations became, the worst being: “Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy bouncy?” (The Hungarian phrase being “How much will that cost?”). I later observed a Hungarian tourist using the book at a tobacconist’s shop, only to see the same tourist dragged from the tobacco shop by a policeman spouting such phrases as “My nipples explode with the light!” which I can only guess is some twisted form of “I am innocent.” Though many bystanders found it quite entertaining (one even going to far as to say “It’s bloody brilliant!”) and laughed at the poor man’s expense, I was disgusted.

Being a speaker of both English and Hungarian, I am outraged at the imbecility and immaturity this phrasebook presents. I am convinced that this book will cause no end of troubles in the Hungarian tourist community, and I suggest you recall all books of this type and republish them, this time with accurate translations of the phrases. I will be sending this letter not only to your company but to neighboring bookstores as well, warning them not to sell your book until it has been completely revamped.

Sincerely,

Szendrey Marika

On Gender Roles

Hi there everyone! So I'm back, and I'm here to talk about something I read on the internet today. I found it on Facebook (because there are some GREAT links there :) ) and I wanted to share it with you all. Cop's Wife of Nerdy Apple Bottom wrote a blog post recently about her son. This details how her five-year-old boy, an avid fan of Scooby Doo, decided to dress up as Daphne for Halloween. Her son expresses concern that "people will laugh at him...[and] their laughter would be of the 'making fun' kind". However, its not the children that are bothered by the costume, but the parents (the other mothers). She makes the comment that, were it a girl dressed up in a boy's costume, no one would care, and that started me thinking ("A dangerous past time" as LeFou would say). 


Recently we've been learning about sex and gender in our sociology class, and one of our topics was "gender roles". Now gender roles are attitudes, behaviors, and activities defined as appropriate for each sex and learned through the socialization process (taken straight from my textbook). Now why is it more socially acceptable to dress like this: 

This is one of the few pics I could find of a cross dressing
woman. It's a pretty awesome tux she's wearing, too!

Rather than like this:

For those of you native Austinites, you'll know this man as Leslie
Cochran, a local celebrity of sorts. He is WAY AWESOME!

Its just a bit bothersome that people make such a big fuss about how people in this day and age should dress. 

Granted, parents from the past generation look on today's culture and think "Why in God's Name are Hot pants coming back into style?". I know my parents do, and in a way so do I (hotpants...you'd never catch me wearing them...) but I try not to go straight up and say "Hey, those look absolutely hideous on you and everyone else wearing them" (no I don't think that, they work on some people...very few...).

Anywho.... if Cop's Wife is reading this (though I doubt she will be, no one has read my blog or commented yet to my knowledge) I just have this to say:

Tell your little boy he looks absolutely ADORABLE in that costume! Go for it, wear whatever you want, and don't be afraid of who you are. You're awesome!

That last line sounded incredibly cheesy, no? Sorry...