Lost in translation.

It is amusing, sometimes, to speak to those who are new to English. On occasion, the mistakes made can be quite hilarious.

Once, I asked a classroom of Asian students to name someone who was famous for being the worst at something. One Chinese boy rose to the challenge.

"That famous tourist..." he began, clutching after a name.

"Famous tourist?", I echoed, puzzled.

"Yes." He said, more sure of himself, now. "Famous tourist: Bin Ladin."

"Osama Bin Ladin?", I found myself laughing.

"Yes, the famous tourist." He said, still unaware of why I laughed.

"Terrorist...not tourist."

At least, he tried, however, to answer the question. His answer conjured a comic image of Bin Ladin, with a camera, touring the world's tourist spots. That is what I call hiding out in the open.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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