“The all-time triumph of the Royal Society for the Extremely Stupid – the sign that clinched it for them at this year’s awards – was a big road sign that went up in Swansea. The English version said that this was a residential area and there was no entry for heavy goods vehicles. But it was the Welsh translation that represented a masterpiece of Extremely Stupid lobbying. This read: Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i’w gyfielthu. It was a few months before someone had the nerve to point out that this gnomic message meant: I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”
The city is Paris, but the papers are still English. Boris Johnson on the works of the Royal Society for the Extremely Stupid.
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