Can drive, can't speak English

Category: Ramblings | Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:09 pm

I found myself bundled up on the floor this morning, laughing my head off. The reason for this was our rally ace Petter Solberg's spoken English.(Wikipedia link) He has driven for Ford and Subaru and has done very well for himself so far. Now he's without a contract and I have a feeling he ought to concentrate on his English, just to be on the safe side.

Here are a couple of his language "pearls":

"I'm driving around the corner and crash in the christmas tree."

"I had bad pigs in my dekk." (Tr.: My tire studs were bad.)

"There was a moose in the engine." (Tr. There was a mouse in the engine.)

"It was so much dog on the window." (Tr. The windows were fogged up.)

"It's not the fart that kills you, it's the smell." (Tr. It's not the speed that kills you but the impact.)

And finally, my favourite:

"But-but, it's not only-only you know!"

I give the chap credit for speaking English anyway, despite him mixing in Norwegian words, and for his big, hearty laugh and his enthusiasm for his sport. At least he doesn't lack courage!

However, I'm still laughing.

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GrandaddyDayCare wrote on Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:20 pm:

"I had bad pigs in my dekk." Now thats funny right there, I don't care who you are.

dooley wrote on Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:11 pm:

I've only learned a bit of Spanish and haven't used it at all. I'm sure learning another language is difficult under most circumstances. Sometimes the mistakes are funny though. Give him credit for trying. He may just be trying to be funny. dooley

glendann wrote on Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:42 pm:

It gave me a good laugh for sure.My hubby could speak spanish very fluent because of his work but he loved to tell me how to say things that were not very nice and when I would use them he would just be on the floor rolling.We had friends that were hispanic and they got a big kick out of it.i would love to have got to kick them.Talk about being set up I sure was.:)

Sjoerd wrote on Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:42 pm:

Heh heh heh...that was a good posting, Droopy.

Droopy wrote on Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:30 am:

We all make mistakes when it comes to foreign languages. Unfortunately some of our everyday words means something very different in English, as you can see. *lol*

Palm Tree wrote on Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:52 am:

What a laugh.
You know Droopy Petter is one of my favourite rally drivers and I always admired him. Speaking English and all. But now since you highlighted his mixing of languages - I will look at him in a different light. OR rather listen to him in a different light.. hehehehehe.
By the way I think he could have done so much better since the Subaru that he has been driving while having a contract always seemed to let him down. He is a pretty darn good driver. In fact I have a whole lot more respect for rally drivers than for F1 drivers or even track-racing drivers.
Anyways - thanks for giving us some insight into Petter's 'language skills'