Sunil Gavaskar slammed BCCI's player workload management policy saying remove 'workload' word from Indian Cricket's dictionary. This came after the hosts South Africa thrashed India by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test in Centurion.
Mumbai: Erstwhile skipper Sunil Gavaskar lambasted saying remove the 'workload' word from Indian cricket's dictionary ahead of the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town, starting from Monday. The hosts outplayed Men in Blue in the first Test at Centurion, defeated by an innings and 32 runs. Gavaskar feels that India should capitalise on time between the two matches by playing against the South Africa A team or playing matches against a county or a state team for the preparations. He criticised India's workload management strategy with the schedule where they play only two Test matches with a gap of seven days in between.
Speaking at the Star Sports, India's television broadcasters, the 74-year-old also said, "Nothing happens to senior cricketers. They will play the second, third and fourth matches even if they fail. Practice matches are necessary for the young players. If you want, you can ask your senior players to come at ease, they can come a day before the Test match, but you need to arrange practice matches for the young players."
After the Rohit Sharma-led side faced a humiliating defeat in the first Test, the veteran India opener earlier excoriated India's decision to play an intra-squad game over playing a First Class practice game as a 'joke'.
"The reasons are straightforward - you didn't play any matches here. If you straightaway play Test matches, it doesn't work out. Yes, you sent the India A team. The India A team should actually come before the tour. You need to play practice matches after coming here. Intra-squad is a joke because would your fast bowlers bowl extremely fast to your batters, would they bowl bouncers, as they would be scared about injuring their batters," he added.
"My Playing XI would not change too many changes. Ravindra Jadeja, once he is fit, will probably walk back into the team at the expense of Ravichandran Ashwin. That's what it is looking to be because Ravichandran Ashwin was hardly used in the previous game. There could be a change in the new ball bowling, too, with Mukesh Kumar coming in place of Prasidh Krishna."
Urban Dictionary began in 1999 as a parody of the popular website Dictionary.com. A crowdsourcing website, urbandictionary.com allows users to upload words and phrases in real time; a team of moderators approves users’ submissions before allowing them on the site. The site has gained a devoted following, garnering over 65 million monthly visits, archived by the Library of Congress, and is a major reference for linguists studying English slang.
If Urban Dictionary is useful in giving a snapshot of the way language is used, then its current range of definitions is worrisome. Dozens of Jewish and Israel-related words and phrases have intensely negative definitions, depicting Jews and the Jewish state as venal, untrustworthy and dangerous.
Take the word “Jew” itself. Some mainstream definitions exist on the site, defining Jews as members of the Jewish religion and people. Many other definitions are offensive: “Synonym for screw over; to cheat or deceive someone;” “Term for someone who is rich and stingy; and “to jew someone out of money is basically short changing them.” Other words related to Jews display hurtful definitions: “Hebrew Jeebies” are “something you feel when a person of Jewish decent (sic) leaves you with an unsettled feeling.” “Kosher Casino” is defined as the stock market; one who makes money on the stock market “beat them at their own game,” apparently referring to Jews. “Jew Gold” is “a term for the small bag of gold that Jews wear around their neck… It has been scientifically proven that it is impossible to get a Jew to part with their jew gold.”
Post-October 7 Hatred
Urban Dictionary has contained multitudes of antisemitic content for years; recently, it’s got even worse. Since Hamas’ brutal terrorist incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and 240 Israelis kidnapped, Urban Dictionary’s definitions have taken an even darker turn.
“Israel” is now a verb, defined as: “The act of taking something that is not yours and then kicking out the rightful owner,” and “when a person tells you that your property is theirs (when it obviously isn’t).”
Urban Dictionary users are advised to say “I’ve been Israeled!” whenever they’ve been cheated out of something. Similarly, “Israeling” now means lying or cheating on someone: “My girlfriend lied…she was totally Israeling,” Urban Dictionary declares.
A contributor on the site who goes by the name Oxford Curriculum Reviewer goes even further, defining “Israeling” as “stepping over corpses” to steal what rightfully belongs to another person. All of these insulting definitions were approved by Urban Dictionary monitors.
Users on the site define “Israel” in numerous vulgar ways, giving definitions such as “wants to take over land that isn’t theres (sic),” defining Israel as not a real country, and calling Israel a brutal country which steals others’ land and history. Some post-October 7 definitions to the site betray a strange preoccupation with trying to prove that Jews living in Israel are somehow not “real” Jews or are not “Semites” (sometimes twisting themselves in knots trying to prove that hating Jews is therefore not antisemitic.)
Since October 7, the new word “Palestined” has arisen as with largely positive associations attributed to it. To be “Palesinted,” is: “To reclaim something that has been Israeled from you for so long.” Some users have posted more negative definitions, but the vast majority are positive. Users are given the sample sentence “I finally reclaimed my pen after that guy took it from me and claimed it as his!”
These offensive definitions are a snapshot of the way our language is evolving and indicate high levels of confusion about Israel and the Middle East.
Outlets such as Urban Dictionary don’t only reflect current trends in language, they help dictate it too. When users read that “to Israel” means to steal, that odious definition seems a little more plausible. When users know that speakers somewhere are using Jew in a derogatory way, then it becomes that much easier to utter anti-Jewish slurs themselves. Trends have a way of snowballing; as more and more users define Israel and Jewish-related words in negative ways, doing so will become ever easier and more likely.
Resisting the Rise in Hate Speech
There are a few ways we all can resist the rise in negative speech on Urban Dictionary and elsewhere. When it comes to urbandictionary.com, reach out to complain about antisemitic (and other offensive) definitions at info@urbandictionary.com and telephone 1 (415) 570-8721.
More generally, resolve to stand up to offensive or demeaning language. Object whenever you hear people or groups of people referred to in a derogatory way. Adopt a zero-tolerance policy, starting with the newest anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slurs that are being spread. Call out biased and inaccurate media reports which depict Israel as a cartoon villain, fueling the spread of anti-Israel slang. Speak up, educate your peers, blog, and tell people about the complexities behind the Israel-Hamas war.
2. The Sweet Salt of Tamil by Tho Paramasivan, translated by V. Ramnarayan (Tamil)@navayanabooks https://t.co/WxuMaILPOH pic.twitter.com/VGVq8typiX
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) January 4, 2023
4. Marquez, EMS, Gulam and Others : Selected Short Stories by Benyamin, translated by Swarup B. R. (Malayalam)@HarperCollinsIN https://t.co/NNGgx8dmiO pic.twitter.com/VOrZzsvmZn
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) January 6, 2023
6. Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar, translated by @meenakandasamy (Tamil)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/kQgRjqXtdW pic.twitter.com/UMdPjauUuK
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) January 7, 2023
8. Black Soil by Ponneelan, translated by J. Priyadarshini (Tamil)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/XbNWw7O8sD pic.twitter.com/hlk9E6GMWt
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) January 18, 2023
10. Fate's Game and Other Stories by Kodagina Gouramma, translated by @deepabhasthi (Kannada)@arpitayodapress https://t.co/Rh7tqJrtOm pic.twitter.com/PM84ZOIYJO
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) January 27, 2023
12. The Parsi Theatre by Somnath Gupt, translated by Kathryn Hansen (Hindi)@seagullbooks https://t.co/CFG1Cl1nED pic.twitter.com/0zkfrC0SWZ
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) February 23, 2023
14. The Garden of Tales by Vijaydan Detha, translated by Vishes Kothari (Rajasthani)@HarperCollinsIN https://t.co/rGO3LU7fxv pic.twitter.com/RasNx2oXj4
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) February 24, 2023
16. Best Ghost Stories from Bengal by multiple authors, translated by Barnali Saha (Bangla)@Bee_Books https://t.co/MpS7FfqogB pic.twitter.com/8lQnq9S6Fq
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) February 28, 2023
18. Kheerer Putul by Abanindranath Tagore, translated by Ayushmita Kundu (Bangla)@Bee_Books @eshabeebookshttps://t.co/XploQOaBU6 pic.twitter.com/yNatqh103m
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) March 14, 2023
20. Sivakami’s Vow: Paranjyothi’s Journey by Kalki, translated by Nandini Vijayaraghavan (Tamil)@PenguinIndiahttps://t.co/Htuc3FqyBx pic.twitter.com/qQvx0g68yx
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) March 29, 2023
22. The Abyss by Jeyamohan, translated by @artisuch (Tamil)@juggernautbooks https://t.co/7tkGLvKYYw pic.twitter.com/qefphayeWG
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) April 10, 2023
24. Simsim by @GeetChaturvedi , translated by @anitagopalan (Hindi)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/z48pS1q2T5 pic.twitter.com/uRchSYH8oi
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) April 20, 2023
26. Chittacobra by @MridulaGarg7 , translated by the author (Hindi)@speakingtiger14 https://t.co/sqW2Ba0sXK pic.twitter.com/TqZbrkmq5x
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) April 28, 2023
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30. Truth/Untruth by Mahasweta Devi, translated by Anjum Katyal (Bangla)@seagullbooks https://t.co/Qv6ZhTFcfr pic.twitter.com/CJF4YwvOs7
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) May 3, 2023
32. Subversive Whispers by Manasi, translated by J. Devika (Malayalam)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/ecWo0SOkPN pic.twitter.com/a2Gs7q4LXQ
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) May 15, 2023
34. The Roof Beneath Their Feet by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Rahul Soni (Hindi)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/Emo9AqyIUZ pic.twitter.com/gYBZTDHx9Z
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) May 15, 2023
36. Rooh by Manav Kaul, translated by @SoulVersified (Hindi)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/HHOmpMQdvg pic.twitter.com/oqBIXAZco4
40. The Empty Space by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Nivedita Menon (Hindi)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/TClVZZpm3c pic.twitter.com/hMvQO4vr79
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) May 15, 2023
42. Sawaneh-i Dehli: Biography of Delhi by Mirza Ahmed Akhtar Gorgani, translated by Ather Farouqui (Urdu)@RoliBooks https://t.co/IE6nZDmn6q pic.twitter.com/ftqCUHbq39
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) May 18, 2023
44. Magadh by Shrikant Verma, translated by Rahul Soni (Hindi)@WestlandBooks https://t.co/Xr5iwKsCSb pic.twitter.com/PFh3UjjCHp
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) June 1, 2023
46. Sahela Re by @MrinalPande1 , translated by Priyanka Sarkar (Hindi)@HarperCollinsIN https://t.co/oolYtaKgJV pic.twitter.com/F6dkdMh4Qy
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) June 1, 2023
48. When the Wind God Fell Sick and Other Folk Tales by Chandrasekhar Kambar, translated by Krishna Manavalli (Kannada)@Rupa_Books https://t.co/unLmwCTZfQ pic.twitter.com/yEEjjlAQ4n
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) July 1, 2023
50. The Invisible Enemy : A Global Story of Biological and Chemical Warfare by @girishkuber , translated by Subha Pande (Marathi)@HarperCollinsIN https://t.co/ca5vlKQ68V pic.twitter.com/dQLzcEsCZ7
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) July 1, 2023
52. The Stepmother and Other Stories by Laxmibai Abhyankar, translated by Ranjana Kaul (Marathi)@RatnaBooks https://t.co/3H9tf5dAgf pic.twitter.com/8JecUaTzUC
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) July 12, 2023
54. Dudiya: In Your Burning Land by Vishwas Patil, translated by Nadeem Khan (Marathi)@niyogibooks https://t.co/3etqZ3BSml pic.twitter.com/qwzOztrn49
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) July 28, 2023
56. Varavara Rao : A Life In Poetry edited by N. Venugopal & @meenakandasamy , translated by multiple translators (Telugu)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/YrA7Ic5cF9 pic.twitter.com/tnQOT7He7T
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) July 28, 2023
58. Won’t You Stay, Radhika? by Usha Priyamvada, translated by @shreedaisy (Hindi)@speakingtiger14 https://t.co/C4a8ezddEH pic.twitter.com/c9O9zaoYgv
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) August 20, 2023
60. The Boar Hunt by V.M. Devadas, translated by Prabha Zacharias (Malayalam)@HachetteIndia https://t.co/ORgkBIcz99 pic.twitter.com/nZcSX5bsEc
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) August 24, 2023
62. Behold! The Word Is God: Hymns of Tukaram translated by Shanta Gokhale and Jerry Pinto (Marathi)@speakingtiger14 https://t.co/ECyRddvKSc pic.twitter.com/3ppgdSJUCS
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) August 26, 2023
64. Two Plays: ‘The Grand Exit’ and ‘A Conversation with Dolly’ by Satish Alekar, translated by Shanta Gokhale (Marathi)@seagullbooks https://t.co/vqhopEOGQ2 pic.twitter.com/DVH2TJQPBY
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) August 30, 2023
66. The Greatest Punjabi Stories Ever Told selected & edited by Renuka Singh and Balbir Madhopuri (Punjabi)@AlephBookCo https://t.co/RGVencsdB3 pic.twitter.com/BhBaYAR1bU
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) September 4, 2023
68. The Greatest Indian Stories Ever Told edited by @arunava , translated from multiple languages@AlephBookCo https://t.co/Ath4Nj39sN pic.twitter.com/tSCncwpUwV
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) September 5, 2023
70. Sacred Sins by Arun Ezhuthachan, translated by Meera Gopinath (Malayalam)@HachetteIndia https://t.co/2CgsGrFA50 pic.twitter.com/NCNKfwUVf6
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) September 13, 2023
72. Mrs. Simon is waiting and other stories by Dinesh Pathak, translated by Sneha Pathak (Hindi)https://t.co/R7wnX6Q1xy pic.twitter.com/caWHtmzIFD
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) September 26, 2023
74. ‘Why Didn’t You Come Sooner?’ by @k_satyarthi , translated by the author (Hindi)@speakingtiger14 https://t.co/9FP7XpXDiV pic.twitter.com/6Svl5qzTQ2
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) September 27, 2023
76. Hanuman Drama by Damodara Mishra, translated by A.N.D. Haksar (Sanskrit)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/WSjlTUVrqz pic.twitter.com/JqWvQDRcwk
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) October 2, 2023
78. Conversations with Aurangzeb by @charunivedita , translated by Nandini Krishnan (Tamil)@HarperCollinsIN https://t.co/TZ2ok8oKXr pic.twitter.com/2a5Fm72Xjn
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) October 2, 2023
80. Voices of Resistance: Telugu Progressive-Political Literature edited by Volga & @KK_Kannabiran , translated by Vasanth Kannabiran (Telugu)@OrientBlackSwan https://t.co/RdjenldtyD pic.twitter.com/AzBDFKq92h
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) October 2, 2023
82. A Bird on My Windowsill by Manav Kaul, translated by Nandini Kumar Nickerson (Hindi)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/uqvwzGoTZp pic.twitter.com/26RH90cFcm
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) October 5, 2023
84. Gandhi’s Travels in Tamil Nadu by A. Ramasamy, translated by P. C. Ramakrishna (Tamil)@OrientBlackSwan https://t.co/D2WsgS2d1X pic.twitter.com/bD40Hy2som
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) October 7, 2023
86. Ponniyin Selvan - Book 2: Troubled Waters by Kalki, translated by Nandini Krishnan (Tamil)@WestlandBooks https://t.co/kFhQbPtaDy pic.twitter.com/quMRdOxHiB
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 4, 2023
88. Urdu : The Best Stories of Our Times edited & translated by @RakhshandaJalil (Urdu)@HarperCollinsIN https://t.co/IcWoJ9o0oI pic.twitter.com/4kImN3LJd7
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 5, 2023
90. By The Sea by Vanna Nilavan, translated by G. Geetha (Tamil)@Vitastapublish https://t.co/cdnHpyqGms pic.twitter.com/vZQ5Bl3lWm
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 5, 2023
92. Guru Nanak’s Discourse to the Nath Yogis translated by Kamala Elizabeth Nayar and Jaswinder Singh Sandhu (Punjabi)@speakingtiger14 https://t.co/XVbW2qfzg1 pic.twitter.com/4hvPCWrKdX
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 5, 2023
94. Dharmapada by Gopabandhu Dash, translated by Dr. Lakshmidhar Mishra (Odia)@Vitastapublish https://t.co/pgoHKoZA99 pic.twitter.com/FTEY0qqccr
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 5, 2023
96. The Bharathi I Knew by M.K. Yadhugiri Ammal, translated by Premila Paul & Subash Jeyan (Tamil)@Vitastapublish https://t.co/IkS6uNuDtM pic.twitter.com/87xPR7bzGj
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 5, 2023
98. The Taliban and I by Sushmita Bandyopadhyay, translated by @arunava (Bangla)@WestlandBooks @EkaWestland https://t.co/3qbR6mq8Fi pic.twitter.com/HINpbnG5f1
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 5, 2023
100. Muslim Politics in India by Hamid Dalwai, edited & translated by Dilip Chitre (Marathi)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/CXF4YOildc pic.twitter.com/lSXri6miwl
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) November 7, 2023
102. The Pig Flip written & illustrated by Joshy Benedict, translated by K.K. Muralidharan (Malayalam)@HarperCollinsIN https://t.co/indqf9fxuG pic.twitter.com/mWwsAe47ki
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 2, 2023
104. Dukhi Dadiba and The Irony of Fate by Dadi Edulji Taraporewala, translated by Aban Mukherji & Tulsi Vatsal (Gujarati)@RatnaBooks https://t.co/dXVSWIun7H pic.twitter.com/4FEeM0lnXi
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 3, 2023
106. Password and Other Stories by Appadurai Muttulingam, translated by S. Thillainayagam (Tamil)@RatnaBooks https://t.co/jeNR3P3KEW pic.twitter.com/1qBepzJbIQ
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 3, 2023
108. Vazhga Vazhga and Other Stories by @writerimayam , translated by Prabha Sridevan (Tamil)@PenguinIndia https://t.co/jrTUUqF0ol pic.twitter.com/39VGJniGrr
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 13, 2023
110. Forests, Blood & Survival: Life and Times of Komuram Bheem by Bhoopal, translated by P.A. Kumar (Telugu)@HBTsince1980 https://t.co/Y3w1JYwh3F pic.twitter.com/fyeBrzehTE
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 15, 2023
112. Rabindranath Tagore Among Saints by Bipul Kumar Gangopadhyay, translated by Swaraj Kumar Chakrabarti & Dr Amitava Sanyal (Bangla)@Vitastapublish https://t.co/YOwW2kzZu7 pic.twitter.com/TVSdgdLJjD
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 15, 2023
114. The Chariot of Wisdom by Subramania Bharati, translated by Gregory James (Tamil)@HachetteIndia https://t.co/q3gCcybMxj pic.twitter.com/6aHjIYi2f2
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 17, 2023
116. i, Salma: Selected Poems translated by @SrilataKrishnan & Shobhana Kumar (Tamil)@redriverpress https://t.co/PQjvRtxcxY pic.twitter.com/lOH7RMo58p
— Chittajit 🏳🌈 (@cjmitra) December 27, 2023
117. Paranoia by @poetrywala , translated by Mustansir Dalvi (Marathi) @paperwallpub https://t.co/o0MAkkSP9A pic.twitter.com/k4ysg3Y4eo
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has published the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ in 113 languages; 92 with full translations of the scriptural volume, and 21 include selections from the book.
The first printing, in English, occurred in 1830.
The second translation was in Danish, in 1851, followed by German, French, Italian, Welch, Hawaiian, Spanish, Swedish and Maori.
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently discussed with the Church News the increasing distribution of the Book of Mormon, including its 200 millionth copy.
Related Story
Volumes of various language translations of the Book of Mormon are displayed.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The most recent full translation was into Macedonian, completed in 2021.
Following are the number of cumulative language translations in 10-year increments (during some decades there were no new language translations).
Chart shows number of language translations of the Book of Mormon, by decade.
Church News graphic
Cumulative language translations of the Book of Mormon in 10-year increments.
Flight attendant and TikToker Destanie (@destineaaa) has accumulated a staunch following on the popular social media platform sharing with viewers on the ups and downs of working in the aviation industry. She’s previously gone viral for revealing how she handles airplane passengers who try to finagle themselves into empty first class seats, and airing out some of the biggest pet peeves she deals with from passengers: From pre-boarding, mid-flight, and the preconceived notions people have about her because she’s a flight attendant.
She recently uploaded another clip that’s amassed over 10,000 views where she highlighted a strange encounter she had with a man who tried to finesse money out of her using Google Translate. She said that the scenario had all of the makings of a Liam Neeson human trafficking flick and thanks to her outright refusal to entertain the person’s exhortations and what she calls a seemingly fake nice guy shtick, she thankfully emerged from the incident unscathed.
“I had something happen to me tonight that I feel like was like a scene out of Taken. So I’m literally just getting back from my yearly reoccurrent flight attendant training so I’m already on edge right cause we did a lot of like safety and security stuff. They’re like situational awareness. So it’s like 8 o’clock, I’m waiting for the train, train’s coming at 8:10 and it’s really cold outside so I’m waiting above in the airport. There’s like an escalator to go down and an elevator to go down. This man comes up to me, and he’s like hmmm, I’m like yeah? I think he’s gonna ask for directions or something he gets super close to me,” she holds her hand up directly beside her face to demonstrate the proximity in which the man approached her, “Like this close to me, and I back up. And he gets closer to me. He pulls out his Google Translate, he’s speaking Russian into Google Translate like I saw the characters once he showed it to me, it’s Russian as she’s like getting really close to me and I keep backing up. It was just a weird vibe too, it was just like I felt a weird vibe from him. Like he was trying to give off this vibe that he was like ‘I’m a nice guy’ but it was creepy. He showed me his phone. His phone says: ‘I have been waiting at the ATM for an hour. Will you please transfer me some money and I will give you cash.’ And he shows it to me and he’s giving me this like nervous smile. And I look at him I’m like, ‘No, no,'” she says demonstrating the stern look she shot him while voicing she would not be transferring him money.
Destanie goes on to say that the strange man sighed and rolled his eyes before walking away, “He goes down to the train, walks in a circle, makes a phone call, and comes right back up the escalator. I watch him. He goes down to the train, paces around, makes a phone call and goes right back up. Am I overthinking this?” she asks at the end of the video, while also noting in a text overlay in her clip that there was no ATM machine located in the area that his mystery man kept retreating to.
Several commenters who responded to her clip did not believe she was overthinking the situation at all. One person penned: “All the comments are right – you get a weird feeling, trust your gut, trust your intuition. Happy nothing else happened”
Someone else remarked, “Weird and trust your instincts!”
While one TikTok user pointed out how strange the man’s scam was: Why in the world would he be asking for money to be transferred to his account if he had cash on his person?
Unfortunately, there are several ATM scams that are aimed at targeting travelers, however, they seem to be more complex than the one Destanie suspects she was a victim of: These cons usually involve card readers installed on ATM machines. Folks think that they’re getting their money out of the machine, and maybe they even do, but not before a device saves the card information to a microSD card that is then lifted by the con artist and used for a variety of transactions.
@destanieaaa
I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt but really felt odd 😭
♬ original sound – Destanie | Flight Attendant ✈️
It seems that the particular con that Destanie is referring to is one that seems to tug on the heart strings of folks: A forlorn looking traveler is looking to have some funds transferred. They use Google Translate to create the persona of an individual who is a stranger in a strange land—who wouldn’t want to help someone in need? However, judging by the pitch offered up by the strange man, it didn’t sound like his con made much sense.
Another scam that’s gone viral on TikTok previously that travelers should watch out for, the “Paris clear cup scam” was aired by a user on the platform who said that beggars will intentionally put their money in clear cups on the floor and hope that tourists kick them over. When an apologetic pedestrian picks up their cup and their money, they will act upset and look to extort money out of folks: But it is apparently a known hustle, and one that preys on the guilt of someone who is supposedly more fortunate than the indigent beggar who just had their alms toppled over by some careless feet.
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*First Published: Dec 31, 2023, 12:00 am CST
Jack Alban
Jack Alban is a freelance journalist for the Daily Dot covering trending human interest/social media stories and the reactions real people have to them. He always seeks to incorporate evidence-based studies, current events, and facts pertinent to these stories to create your not-so-average viral post.
In Belfast for a short period a few months ago, there was an outbreak of nonsense. There, on a hard-won bilingual street sign off the Ormeau Road, an entirely new Irish word was coined. Where it should have read Ascaill Pháirc an Fhéir, it instead read Ascaill Pháire an Fhéir.
The former means Haypark Avenue, as a quick cross-check with the English wording would prove to even the most self-effacing Gaeilgeoir. The latter doesn’t mean much of anything.
The word “páire” even appeared elsewhere, on five signs across three streets, in what a Belfast City Council subcommittee described as an “absolutely unfortunate” incident.
Belfast being something of a mecca of modern urban Irish-speaking, the mistakes were noticed quickly, and they will be fixed at no additional cost to the ratepayer. It was a pity, but also perhaps a symptom of success at a time when Irish-language translations are making rapid headway into areas that want them across the North.
“We would much have preferred the council spent their time dealing with the significant backlog in applications, rather than revisiting old ground and rectifying mistakes that never should have happened in the first place,” Cuisle Nic Liam, language rights co-ordinator at Conradh na Gaeilge, said. It was an “isolated incident” and is less of an issue than vandalism for campaigners.
Of course, not every misstep on the North’s signage will be as simple as a misprint. Bilingual signage in Ireland dates back to before partition, and the evolving tastes and dead ends of policy are still visible on older signs around the country today.
One problem faced in the early 20th century, and faced also in the North now, is the question of how to render obviously English placenames into Irish when there is no Irish root.
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Dr Tom Spalding, a consulting historian and author of the book Layers: The Design History and Meaning of Public Street Signage in Cork and Other Irish Cities, recounts some of the options available to the first generations to Gaelicise city streets.
“They could try and transliterate names from English; although the lack of k, w, v, z and j in the Cló Gaelach presented problems. For example, Washington Street in Cork was rendered in 1918 as ‘Sráid Bashington’ with a ‘ponc’ or dot over the B,” he said.
Sharman Crawford Street, also in Cork, is rendered phonetically in Irish as Sráid Searman Cráford.
“Other times, a back translation from English would be attempted, and occasionally, where the name was initially a Gaelic place name, it would be easier: e.g. Sráid an tSean-Dúna [Old Fort Street] for Shandon Street.
“In the first decade of the last century in Cork, Irish spellings were provided by Conradh na Gaeilge. On one occasion, the branch in which Tomás Mac Curtain, later Lord Mayor of Cork and murdered by the RIC, was active provided a ‘translation’ for Coburg Street [named after the royal house of Prince Albert] to Sráid Uí h-Uigín, probably referencing the Latin American freedom fighter Bernardo O’Higgins.”
After writing about Dublin street signs earlier this year, I received a steady stream of examples and questions from the Gaeilgeoirs I encountered. There is a sign in Dundalk, I learned, that says Sráid na Mainistreach (Abbey Street) in Irish but Castle Street in English. Many people live on roads where the signs disagree with each other. And what did I think of the ship vs sheep debate in the translation of Dublin’s Ship Street Great?
'Washington Street in Cork was rendered in 1918 as Sráid Bashington with a ponc or dot over the B,' says Dr Tom Spalding. Photograph: Tom Spalding
Everyone who thinks to look finds one eventually. “I wouldn’t have the level of Irish required to pick errors in someone else’s translation or transliteration, but I am particularly fond of Bóthar Bhóthar na gCloch, the ‘Road of the Road of the Stone’ ie Stannaway Road, Crumlin, in Dublin,” says Spalding. The vast and invaluable official database at Logainm.ie, for its part, acknowledges that this particular example might “at first glance appear tautologous”, but says it’s an occupational hazard.
One I have become stuck on myself for a few months is Ballyfermot, which Logainm calls Baile Formaid. Not Tormod, or Thermod, or any other T name, as the earliest sources in English and Latin, going back to the 12th century Norman invasion say. And not Diarmait, after local dignitary Diarmait Mac Giolla Mocholmóg, as the historians reckon.
It’s an odd one. “If you were to translate the word ‘formad’, it means envy,” says Dr Emma Nic Cárthaigh, a UCC academic who has worked on the Historical Dictionary of Gaelic Placenames since 1996 and sits on the Coiste Logainmneacha, the expert panel that advises the minister of the Gaeltacht on Irish placenames. “But clearly envy has nothing to do with it. It’s a person’s name. With the ‘ballys’, you would rarely get an abstract name, it tends to be a person’s name. It could well be a Diarmaid, going way back.”
Nic Cárthaigh did not sit on the Coiste Logainmneacha when the decision was made, but she traces a possible process as follows: “In the 1840s, in the Ordnance Survey letters, someone comes along and puts Ballyfermot in pen, and then in the 1960s, someone from the Post Office puts Baile Formaid, where they’re interpreting it as envy, but they haven’t looked at the previous evidence clearly.”
The Coiste, perhaps mindful of local upheaval, left it alone.
Some of the more obvious bad Irish on display over the years was documented by the long-running Gaeilge Dána Facebook group, which had 1,300 members before being shuttered due to spam. Pádraig Ó Mealóid, its administrator, says that amid the unavoidable blitz of the written word, there was “something powerful in being able to share our annoyance at all the myriad ways that the Irish translations can and do go wrong”.
The mood varied from humour to fury, he says, but the posts, which captured everything from absent or backwards fadas to a sign translating Swords’ Airside as ‘Slios an Aeir’ – the side of the air – provided “a constant reminder that, after a hundred years, the State has still not managed to impart a good grounding in our national language to its citizens”, Ó Méalóid says.
As for solutions, he adds: “What we really need is an Irish equivalent of the Académie Française, with absolute authority over the language, with powers to publicly censure all transgressors, both public and private. A month in the Gaeltacht being only allowed to speak Irish would soon soften their coughs. I am, of course, available for a reasonable fee.”
Ultimately, from shopping streets to rural villages to supermarket aisles, all of this is a consequence of the Englishing of Ireland. By the time attention turned to rigorously naming the places of the English-speaking parts of the country, the names in the mouths of the people were already closer to the ones on the official documents than the ones that would have been spoken hundreds of years before.
The way it turned out wasn’t actually inevitable: the biggest towns in Ireland with names in Irish form are ones that were renamed, like Portlaoise (30th) and Cobh (53rd). In Wales, Llanelli, Rhyl and Merthyr Tydfil are in the top 10, despite English domination even longer-lived than that in Ireland.
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“It’s very funny, if you get talking to Welsh scholars or Welsh speakers, they are mesmerised and enraged by the wholesale anglicisation of Irish placenames,” Nic Cárthaigh says. “They didn’t go so far in Wales, and the Welsh are really bolshy about it.
“I’ve a Welsh friend who really annoys me because he always says ‘how are things in Corcaigh’. That’s really unnatural to our ears – cop yourself on and say Cork – but he has a point as well. It was a major act of vandalism on some level.”
So we live on with nonsense placenames that sound more familiar to us than their originals, and the experts continue their efforts to ensure we can know where they came from if we want to.
Some places in Ireland, however, robustly resist any efforts at direct translation whatsoever. A few, in fact, won’t reveal any meaning at all, in any language.
Take Finner, Co Donegal. A townland between Ballyshannon and Bundoran, it is just over two square miles in size and is home, in the modern day, to the 28th Infantry Battalion of the Defence Forces at the eponymous Finner Camp.
In the first decade of the last century in Cork, Irish spellings were provided by Conradh na Gaeilge. Photograph: Tom Spalding
It has a long history as an encampment in fact – in 1536, according to the Annals of Loch Cé, the Ó Domhnaill mustered many men with the intention of fighting an equally impressive army of Ó Conchobhair men in Sligo. Arriving at Finner, he “rested and remained in that place until the rising of the sun on the morrow”.
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The problem is, that’s the only mention of it. “It’s spelled in that reference as Findir. We’re providing it [according to the historical dictionary’s spelling standard] as Finnir. It’s been anglicised as Finner. We have no idea what it means,” says Nic Cárthaigh.
The scholar Edmund Hogan in 1910 suggested that that it should be interpreted as Fionnabhair, a character from Táin Bó Cuailgne. “It’s the same name as Guinevere from King Arthur and Lancelot – that would be a Welsh version of the name.” This works well enough for some, but for Nic Cárthaigh and the academics “nobody can be sure”.
“We don’t know what it means, so we’re leaving it untranslated.”
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The user-run internet lexicon Urban Dictionary emerged in the early 2000s to define and occasionally create online slang — and, in doing so, has both shaped and reflected the internet, as well as indexing it.
And as dozens of one-sided entries for a new verb, “Israeled,” have appeared on Urban Dictionary after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks — and that tens of thousands of users have battled to get the entries down-voted or deleted — the site has become an important staging ground for contests over who should control the online narrative of the war.
The30-plus entriesfor “Israeled” so far submitted to Urban Dictionary more or less share a definition. One, posted Oct. 22, reads: “Verb. Use this term to refer to someone who steals something and acts like the victim.”
All Urban Dictionary entries use the word in a sentence for clarification, with many proceeding along these lines: “In a restaurant, someone asked to share my table. I agreed. After a moment, he asked me to leave because he has a meeting! I’ve been Israeled.”
The top-ranked entry had racked up more than 9,000 upvotes and 17,000 downvotes as of Dec. 29.
Only one of the entries — buried on the second page of definitions for “Israeled”— seems to take a pro-Israel tack: “When the entire world completely ignores historical facts, and justifies terrorist acts against you.” That, too, received more thumbs down than thumbs up.
Anyone with a Facebook or Gmail account can add a new definition to Urban Dictionary, and every submission is reviewed by volunteer editors before publication, according to the website’shelp page. According to a 2013 article inThe New York Times, only five people need to approve a new word for it to be added.
So while an advisory to down-vote and report definitions of “Israeled” to Urban Dictionary moderators circulated in some Jewish WhatsApp groups this week, the coordinated effort seems unlikely to have an effect. Urban Dictionary has a reputation for crassness and irreverence — its popularity since its founding in 1999 largely derived from its definitions of baroque sex terms and swear words — and “Israeled” hardly defies that. (One of the site’s homepage-featured words on Friday was “centaur ass.”)
Moreover, Urban Dictionary — one of thetop 500 most-visited websitesin the United States — has been scrutinized over the spread ofracism and misogynyon the platform in recent years. The second-ranked definition of “girl” was, at one point, “The creation of satan. Designed to destroy the existence of mankind.”
Definitions can be flagged for removal, but the content moderation team thatreviewsthe reports generally seems to take a laissez-faire approach. And a cursory review of the site’sterms of servicedoes not find any clear-cut violations in “Israeled.” Though definitions that provide “information that is false, misleading or inaccurate,” are deemed unacceptable, the site reserves the right to not take down even definitions that are in violation.
Those offended by the entries might take heart in the knowledge that few people are going to Urban Dictionary to learn about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. But beneath that is a more troubling reality: that this is just what the internet looks like, now, and the picture it paints of Israel isn’t pretty.
Louis Keene is a staff reporter at the Forward covering religion, sports and the West Coast. He can be followed on Twitter @thislouis.
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