Stony Lime Sand Bastards

Happy New Year! 2006 was a good year, and I hope 2007 won't disappoint. For the first time since leaving Ft. Worth, I can honestly say I love my job (in spite of having a living version of the Pointy Haired Boss). The best part was traveling to seven new countries this year (Sudan, France, Italy, Germany, Liberia, Senegal, and Poland). My goals for 2007 are to hit Asia and South America (potential trips to China and Suriname), take a French class, and buy the SLR camera I've been saving up for so to better document my travels. All this international work has meant I've seen quite a few badly-translated documents. I will share with you snippets of my favorites from 2006:

• "The ditch for the band [foundation] should be 60 cm deep , and dug painstakingly, manually."


• "The concrete surface should be smoothened with an iron smoothener."


• Foliage: "large leafage"


• "This [change in procedure] will defiantly reduce time of investigation & cost."


• Clearance of landmines: "being demeaned"


• Risks to Security defined as "No impact" through "Unoperational property", with the second level of risk being "Light embarrassment"


• Limestone sand deposits (?): "stony lime sand bastards"


• Warehouses: "Warhorses"


• Referring to a saline water table: "The sheet of water is a salted tablecloth."