Lost in Translation

Delightful story from last week:

Who: Class of 13-year-olds.
Where: Computer room.

Teacher: "Research Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks on the internet. Make a poster. In ANGLAIS!!"

30 children duly go to Wikipedia or similar.
30 children copy and paste a huge section on Martin Luther King into an online translator.
30 children put up their hands and say they're finished.
Teacher beams at me and asks me to go and check their work.

3 unintentionally hilarious results from the online translator

1."Rosa Parks went out at the age of 92" (from the French éteindre, meaning 'to pass away', but also 'to extinguish', as in a flame.).
Me: "That's nice - where did she go?" My attempt at wit is met by blank stares. Oh well.

2. "Martin Luther King was a penis of the black civil rights movement".
membre = member = penis.
Someone was definitely having a giraffe with that translation programme.
Luckily the children don't understand the word, so I gently encourage them to delete it, whilst cackling away to myself inside.

And, the best:

3. "Martin Luther King was a brilliant student. He worked hard to achieve his ultimate aim of becoming an avocado."
avocat = avocado/lawyer.
At this point I failed utterly to suppress my mirth and received concerned looks from strangers for the rest of the day as I relived the moment.

Children are wonderful.