Meatballs are brilliant. As a starter? Yes. As a main meal? Yes. As a message of murder? Erm, run that last one by me again...
Yes, for one Iraqi hotel, the humble meatball has inadvertently become something much more sinister, as their menu somehow translated the word with the new meaning of 'Paul is dead'. And they were only doing their best to cater for their guests...
Advert
The luxurious Eribil International Hotel, situated in the Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq, offers a traditional warm welcome and assistance with your luggage. They've also translated the names of dishes at the buffet into English, because convenience is good.
The hotel, on its website, writes: "Erbil International makes life better on the road. That's because we believe that human, heartfelt connections are what make life worth living.
"So we come to work every day eager to lavish them on our guests and each other."
Clearly, they do not lavish such affection on Paul.
The hotel's translation of the word meatball worked out as 'Paul is dead'.
Advert
Twitter user Hend Amry put the picture on the social media platform, describing it as the 'best translation fail'.
She explained: "The Arabic spells out a transliteration of 'meat ball' in English - which sounds like 'mayit baul', or Dead Paul.
The tweet has gone viral with over 16,000 retweets and over 40,000 likes, because everyone loves it when the language barrier turns into a language pile-up. Just ask Basil Fawlty...
Credit: BBC
Advert
The wisecracks immediately came flooding in. One Twitter user wrote: "Honestly so hungry I could eat a half dozen Paul is dead."
Another added: "Lol try a Paul is dead sandwich. With cheese."
Others commented to explain their own viewings of translation fails...
Any favourite translation howlers of your own? Feel free to leave them in the comments below.
Advert
LADbible has contacted the hotel for a response.
Featured Image Credit: PA
