Monday, February 23, 2009

Prawo Who?


Wow, there’s a few red-faced Irish cops walking around this week, as a long-standing mystery has finally been solved. Apparently, for several years now, they’ve been looking for this Prawo Jazdy guy, an apparent chameleon who racked up over fifty driving offenses. And they’ve got fifty separate identities for the guy. Weird, huh? These poor Irish cops were going crazy, trying to figure this out, until one cop noticed that the phrase, “Prawo Jazdy,” means “driver’s license” in Polish. It seems that the declaration is in the same place as the holder’s name would be on an Irish license.

There’s just one thing that bugs me about this, though. See, when I find something I don’t understand, or that I need more information on, I Google it. So does everyone else I know. Pretty much everyone’s name pops up on a search engine nowadays. So, pretending to be a person who was just discovering this mystery, I plug “Prawo Jazdy,” into the search engine. Of course, now I have to pick through all the articles about “Ireland’s Worst Driver Mystery Solved,” but…weird. Lots of results. Popular guy, it seems. But then, on the third page of results (mainly in Polish) I come across a link in English. Which directs me to a site with an explanation, in English, of Polish driver’s license testing rules and regulations.

Now I search on Polish-English translator. I find a translation site and plug in the phrase “Prawo Jazdy,” and the translator returns: Riding law or right. Not the clearest translation in the world, but when taken in context, and given a moment of thought…I guess the moral of the story is, Google everything, or risk international ridicule.

Beware the sound of crying children, watch out for the barmaids, and whatever you do, don't let the Pegasus spit on you.
Surviving Serendipity--http://www.sylvaniamania.com

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