Oh my god! There's an axe in my head!

July 16, 2012 10:05 PM

Back in the far distant past of the internet (round about 1993, it seems), back when Usenet was actually a bunch of discussion groups instead of a way to download warez and pirated media, the newsgroup alt.gothic had a simple post made by one Yohaun, a short list of translations of the phrase "Oh my god! There's an axe in my head!". Responses contributed translations in more languages. Now, nearly 20 years later, this list continues to exist and grow.
posted by hippybear (6 comments total)

k:-O
posted by yeoz at 10:13 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

I can eat glass and it does not hurt me.
posted by 23 at 10:15 PM on July 16, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is strange and wonderful.
posted by LarryC at 10:23 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Cantonese says "Oh god! Someone has chopped at my head with a knife!" The Mandarin is pretty good, albeit totally lacking tones. When I see lists like this, with errors like this, it makes me wonder how far off all the other languages are.
posted by jiawen at 10:24 PM on July 16, 2012 [1 favorite]

Great to see an Iron Warrior meme still going strong 20 years later. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the more obscure translations contained the time and location of the next nautical competition.
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:24 PM on July 16, 2012

In my head, I can hear my grandmother saying this in yiddish.
posted by not_on_display at 10:38 PM on July 16, 2012