You know the proverb, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” Penny Adams obviously made the wrong impression when she used a cat translator app to communicate with Flam the cat. Judging from his reaction, instead of telling Flam, “You are such a handsome boy,” Penny Adams’ cat translator must have said something more like, “You mom barks like a dog.”

When I was a little kid I loved the TV show McHale’s Navy starring Ernest Borgnine. During any given episode, in the midst of a crisis, the Japanese POW, Fuji, would cry out, “Oy vey!” I always giggled, but I have to admit, I didn’t know why.

Years later, one of my high school friends always exclaimed, “Oy vey!” when something unexpected happened. Translate2Finally I asked her what it meant. She answered, “It’s Japanese. The guy on McHale’s Navy used to say it.” I took her word for it.

Only after I met Debbie Waller did I learn that ‘oy vey’ was a Yiddish exclamation meaning, “Woe is me.” Which, of course, was the joke all along.

My point is, my Yiddish-spouting friend could have been repeating nonsense or even some truly offensive without intending to.

So how do I transition from McHale’s Navy to cat translator apps? Recently there have been a number of translation cell phone apps. I invested $6.95 to learn Spanish from a cat. (I kid you not. Cat Spanish. I can now say, “Donde esta el pescado?” “Where is the fish?”)

 

But other apps claim to translate English into Cat. A photographer named Penny Adams from Nashville was trying to photograph a friend’s brown tabby named Flam. In typical cat fashion, Flam wasn’t cooperating. So Penny activated her cat translator. Flam approached with interested before lashing out at Penny. We can only assume the app didn’t say, “Oy vey.” Whatever she said to Flam, obviously shouldn’t have been repeated in polite feline company.

Penny, you might have gotten a better reaction if you use the Cat Spanish app and to say, “Tengo pescado.” (I have fish.)

Translate

 

 

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