Lost and changed in translation
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Lost and Changed in Translation — Daily trivia Thursday, October 22, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Swansea council printed its translation service's emailed reply on a road sign; what did the Welsh really say?
- ANo lorries, residents only
- BRoad closed for repairs
- CI'm not in the office
- DWelcome to Swansea
Show answer
I'm not in the office
I'm not in the office. The automatic reply went on, 'Send any work to be translated', and that went up on the sign too.
Q 02A Latin Bible called a prophet's face 'horned', so which Michelangelo statue wears horns?
- AMoses
- BSaint Matthew
- CBrutus
- DThe Dying Slave
Show answer
Moses
Moses. Jerome's Latin Vulgate said his face was 'horned' where modern translations say it shone, though some scholars defend 'horned'.
Q 03Which animal's name is often wrongly said to mean 'I don't understand' in an Aboriginal language?
- AKoala
- BWombat
- CKangaroo
- DDingo
Show answer
Kangaroo
Kangaroo. It comes from gangurru, a Guugu Yimithirr word for a kind of kangaroo, written down on Captain Cook's voyage.
Q 04A fluent Korean speaker went viral saying English captions lost much of which Netflix drama's meaning?
- AKingdom
- BCrash Landing on You
- CAll of Us Are Dead
- DSquid Game
Show answer
Squid Game
Squid Game. Youngmi Mayer showed 'I am very smart, I just never got a chance to study' captioned as 'I'm not a genius, but I still got it worked out'.
Q 05Which US secretary of state handed Russia's foreign minister a 'reset' button whose Russian label meant 'overload'?
- ACondoleezza Rice
- BHillary Clinton
- CMadeleine Albright
- DJohn Kerry
Show answer
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton. The label should have said 'perezagruzka', and she joked that the slip was also true: resetting had given them an overload of work.
Q 06Linguists say the Chinese word for 'crisis' isn't 'danger plus opportunity'; what does its second character roughly mean?
- AA warning
- BA disaster
- CA mistake
- DA turning point
Show answer
A turning point
A turning point. Sinologist Victor Mair calls the 'danger plus opportunity' reading a widespread public misperception.
Q 07An American teenager who didn't speak the language wrote over 20,000 articles for which language's Wikipedia?
- AWelsh
- BScots
- CIrish
- DCornish
Show answer
Scots
Scots. His articles were mostly English with a put-on Scottish accent, and a Reddit post exposed them.
Q 08Capcom swapped three Street Fighter II villains' names for overseas releases, fearing a lawsuit from which celebrity?
- AMike Tyson
- BHulk Hogan
- CGeorge Foreman
- DMuhammad Ali
Show answer
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson. The Japanese version's boxer was M. Bison, so overseas he became Balrog and the name went to the final boss.
Q 09Fans published Hamlet as a 'restored' edition, joking that Shakespeare had translated it from which language?
- AKlingon
- BEsperanto
- CElvish
- DDothraki
Show answer
Klingon
Klingon. Star Trek VI has a Klingon chancellor joke that Shakespeare is best read in the original Klingon, so fans supplied the 'original'.
Q 10Which treaty's English text has chiefs cede sovereignty, while its translated text grants 'governorship' instead?
- ATreaty of Tordesillas
- BTreaty of Waitangi
- CTreaty of Nanking
- DTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Show answer
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi. Where its English text cedes 'all the rights and powers of Sovereignty', the Māori text gives the Queen 'kawanatanga', a loan word for governorship.
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