So... yeah... fail
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/magazine/09FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=2
I sent this link to someone who's currently learning translation, and this is what I translated in order to explain what the passage meant:
"I asked the C.E.O. of Pet Holdings, Ben Huh, when he knew that fail had broken through as a “meme,” to use the fashionable term for a cultural symbol or idea transmitted virally.
“It really started to take off when the financial industry decided to - ahem - fail,” Huh said. “Talk about the perfect storm.” The fail meme met the financial crisis head on at a Senate hearing in September, when a demonstrator held up a sign reading “FAIL” behind Henry Paulson Jr., the former Treasury secretary, and Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve. Online snark had graduated to political protest, though as a rallying slogan, the vagueness of fail leaves much to be desired."
"我問Pet Holdings 的首席執行官(Ben Huh),他什麼時候才發覺到[敗]是在網上用的[暴詞],暴紅流行的詞句.
“那個期間大約是經濟開始…啊…[敗]的時候,”Huh 表示.“真是雪上加霜.” 在九月的美國參議院聽證會,[敗]的暴詞跟這次的金融風波正面互撞,當一位抗議者站在美國前財政部副部長(Henry Palson Jr.)與美國聯邦儲備的董事長(Ben S. Bernanke)的後方舉起了一張[敗]的牌子. [敗]的用法從在網上諷刺的評論演變成一種政治抗議的口號,但是這一個字的形容範圍實在太模糊,不適合用在高深的討論中."
Disclaimer: "meme" doesn't have a direct Chinese translation, and if there was, I don't know it. So I made up a term for it.
Update: "meme" turns out to be "迷因" or "米姆", which makes no literal fucking sense. And it's dull.
I sent this link to someone who's currently learning translation, and this is what I translated in order to explain what the passage meant:
"I asked the C.E.O. of Pet Holdings, Ben Huh, when he knew that fail had broken through as a “meme,” to use the fashionable term for a cultural symbol or idea transmitted virally.
“It really started to take off when the financial industry decided to - ahem - fail,” Huh said. “Talk about the perfect storm.” The fail meme met the financial crisis head on at a Senate hearing in September, when a demonstrator held up a sign reading “FAIL” behind Henry Paulson Jr., the former Treasury secretary, and Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve. Online snark had graduated to political protest, though as a rallying slogan, the vagueness of fail leaves much to be desired."
"我問Pet Holdings 的首席執行官(Ben Huh),他什麼時候才發覺到[敗]是在網上用的[暴詞],暴紅流行的詞句.
“那個期間大約是經濟開始…啊…[敗]的時候,”Huh 表示.“真是雪上加霜.” 在九月的美國參議院聽證會,[敗]的暴詞跟這次的金融風波正面互撞,當一位抗議者站在美國前財政部副部長(Henry Palson Jr.)與美國聯邦儲備的董事長(Ben S. Bernanke)的後方舉起了一張[敗]的牌子. [敗]的用法從在網上諷刺的評論演變成一種政治抗議的口號,但是這一個字的形容範圍實在太模糊,不適合用在高深的討論中."
Disclaimer: "meme" doesn't have a direct Chinese translation, and if there was, I don't know it. So I made up a term for it.
Update: "meme" turns out to be "迷因" or "米姆", which makes no literal fucking sense. And it's dull.