Repetition with variation

[boxofdelights]

This story is for randomdreams because I think if it will work for anyone, it will work for him. I've told this story twice, and it flopped twice. I think there's something funny in there -- I literally fell on the floor laughing when it happened -- but I don't know how to get it out.

That said, if you listen to the story, please come back and give me feedback. You can comment, or just click a button on the poll at Dreamwidth.

Poll #12547

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

View Respondents

I listened to this story, and

View Answers

it was funny.
3 (60.0%)

I see why you think it was funny, but it didn't work for me.
1 (20.0%)

I don't see why you think it was funny.
1 (20.0%)

Comments

[amaebi]

No, I don't think I'm getting it, unless what's funny is that USians rejected the metric system so resoundingly that using it in daily life seems now to be off the table entirely.

[boxofdelights]

It's that the person on automatic pilot who was translating British to American came across an American term and translated American to British. That's not the kind of error that computers make, so I realized that it was a person all along.

[maize]

I think I didn't get the joke because it seems completely plausible that a localization application that did unit conversion would work in both directions, depending on what it found in the text. (I still think, based on what I've seen of publishing, that it was probably done by hand, mind you; Just that given the premise that some sort of algorithm beyond simple search-and-replace was being used -- one that did unit conversions -- I don't think it unlikely that it would work as described.)

[snippy]

LOL I've done that, just continued automatically translating from one to another even when I was doing it the wrong way.

[beaq]

I can't get the video to play, but I'll listen as soon as I can.

[beaq]

I'm pretty sure most Britishish people use "miles" when they're talking about driving, so it's sideways-funny.

[cimorene]

Wife and I simultaneously laughing loudly and violently!