Groupthink :: View topic - Overcharge - Hillary Pulls A Biden

Hillary Pulls A Biden

"She handed him a palm-sized box wrapped with a bow. Lavrov opened it and pulled out the gift—a red plastic button on a black base with a Russian word 'peregruzka' printed on top. 'We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?' Clinton said as reporters, allowed in to observe the first few minutes of the meeting, watched. 'You got it wrong,' Lavrov said, to Clinton’s clear surprise. Instead of 'reset,' he said the word on the box meant 'overcharge.'"

Let me point out here that Hillary's response shows that she still didn't understand after Lavrov explained. "Peregruzka" doesn't mean "overcharge" in the sense of "to take too much money for," but rather in the sense of overcharging a battery. In that regard, the translation was actually kinda sorta close to what they were driving at, except they wanted to say "re-charge" rather than "over-charge." However, peregruzka also has the connotation of "to strain," or even "to over-strain," which is not exactly what we want to do when it comes to relations with Russia. In that sense, it was a screw-up even beyond Biden levels - it was out there in Dan Quayle territory.

Oh, yeah, and I could have told them that after one semester of Russian, so I'm pretty sure they didn't really "work hard to get the right Russian word." I have two common Russian dictionaries (Oxford and Katzner), and they are in complete agreement on the proper meaning of "peregruzka." Hey, Hillary. Call me next time. I may not know the answer off the top, but I'll put you in touch with some Russian relatives and some Russian professors who can meet your needs within a minute or so.