Lindsay Lohan posted an Arabic message on Instagram, which she thought translated to “You’re beautiful” but literally meant “You’re a donkey.” Meanwhile, back at the village idiot ranch, Lohan conveniently forgot how to use Google Translate. According to Us Weekly, “Lohan posted the photo without a caption, but tweeted a link to the Instagram page with the word ‘Habibi,’ an Arabic term of endearment.”
She was either drunk, stoned, or high on sadness when she posted the pic. Within seconds, Twitter and Instagram lit up like a Christmas tree at Octomom’s house; fans and followers lost their bladders at Walmart; and an oblivious Lohan said “Wha-a-a-a-t?” Dumb-de-Dumb-Thumbs wanted “exotic” and “funny” and “oh-so-sentimental”, but it turned out that her moment of inspirational glory was nothing more than an exceptionally embarrassing faux pas.
In the words of a Twitter user, “Next time @lindsaylohan, let me check b4 u post :-) Arabic words don’t mean ‘U are beautiful’ but ‘u are a donkey.’ [sic]”
Oh. Awkward. So. So. Awkward.
The age old adage of “I’m only human” comes into play here. We all make mistakes from time to time – Taylor Swift’s entire music career is a prime example. But we don’t have seven gazillion followers on Instagram and Twitter. When (not if) we make a mistake, we can just delete the pic and move on with our lives. The same cannot be said for celebrities such as Loopy Lohan. No, they’re burned at the Translation Stake for the rest of their lives.
There are 6000 spoken languages in the world today. That’s 6000 versions of “I love you”, 6000 ways to say “Hello”, and 6000 to say “You’re beautiful”. We’re bound to get lost in translation eventually. Foreign languages can be tricky little bitches, even more so when we can’t pronounce the words. Certain dim-witted people – ahem, Lindsay Lohan – get lost in translation at the most inopportune times.
Don’t drink and Instagram. Don’t be Lindsay Lohan.
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Image credit to FameFlynet