MovieChat Forums > The Young Ones (1998) Discussion > English-to-American translation, please

English-to-American translation, please

posted 8 years ago by drunkbear
2 replies | jump to latest

In the ep 'Demolition,' this line puzzles me a bit.

Mike: "I really think you ought to feed that hamster more often, Vyvyan. He looks like Tesco's when the beans are reduced."

On the subtitle, the second sentence reads as follows:
Mike: "He looks like reduced beans at Tesco's."

The subtitle appears to make sense, if (as I'm assuming) Tesco's is a grocery store, and reduced beans are dried beans, i.e. SPG is shrunken and skinny. The way Mike says it, to me it sounds like the hamster looks like a grocery store when the beans are on sale ('reduced' in price), which makes no sense.

So am I right about the intent of the subtitle, and did Christopher Ryan simply mangle the line when he said it?

"You may have come on no bicycle, but that does not say that you know everything."

[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 8 years ago

Haha! No, a good educated guess, but wrong! My wife is American so I love translating stuff like this.

"Beans" in the UK always refers to baked beans in tomato sauce and you're correct Tesco('s) is a chain of supermarkets. "Reduced beans" means that the price has been reduced. Mike was famous for his non-sequiturs which barely made sense (I thought he was very funny, while a lot of people think he wasn't a good fit in the show).

I always took it to mean either he looks "wrecked" (the shelves have have been destroyed in the rush to buy cheap beans) or emaciated (the shelves are bare as all the beans have sold out).

[–] drunkbear 8 years ago

Okay, that would make sense; SPG looks like a ransacked supermarket section after a big sale. Thanks for the info.

- You may have come on no bicycle, but that does not say that you know everything.