Omni-Lingual

[VanSlick]

I had an interesting thought today when going back and watching this again.

When Matt is telling for the language switch (in English) people who shouldn't understand him do.

First:
Senor Philips understand him when he asks for Klingon and says that he is quite serious (you can tell because Sr. Philips looks exasperated by the request too, despite him not understanding English.

Second:
Matt goes: "Swedish-Chef" and both Sr. Philips and Mr. Hader both groan. Maybe they know "Swedish" but the "chef" part would be unknown: (something like "cocinero de Sueco" in Spanish; etc).

Third:
Matt says "Oh, I don't have a car", and Sr. Philips, Mr. Hader, and Brian all understand the sentence enough to immediately flip him the bird. How do they know he isn't asking a clarifying question instead?

So ya - *shakes finger*.
However I still love the video (and I like to nit-pit things for fun) and its so well filmed. A++.

[Nevrmore]

Who says they are completely incapable of understanding English? They probably know simple words or phrases, such as "Car" or "I don't," and I think for the purposes of comedy you should assume that language names such as "Klingon" and "Swedish Chef" translate identically over all language barriers.

[Master Gunner]

Not to mention, I'm pretty sure Matt's dickishness transcends language barriers.

[Tim]

I'm pretty sure we all realized that they "shouldn't" understand him when he's saying those things, but I'd say it's in there for comedic effect.

[Jackrabbit]

Rule of Funny conquers all!

[ArmondoSC]

So I was re-watching this video and I got a humorous idea.


I now have lrr flipping off Matt on my desktop. Yay!

[happie!]

So I was re-watching this video and I got a humorous idea.


I now have lrr flipping off Matt on my desktop. Yay!

I love the idea, and the image.

Omni-Lingual is among my top five favorite episodes... Everyone does a fantastic job acting.

[BritchesStitches]

This is easily one of my favorite videos, and truly, truly hope a sequel is at some point considered. I guess this video doesn't really lend itself to a direct sequel, but some kind of spin-off maybe? It's just so good...

[LotsofLuck]

Great stuff guys, I did not predict the ending at all. Can't wait for Mondays!

[epocalypse]

You know, this is one of the first videos I saw once I noticed that wee little link under the unskippable video, and it remains one of my favorites. However, I must say, and I admit this might be more me than you guys, but I can't understand Morgan's accent at all in this video. What dialect of interpretive dance is that, South Western New School?

[camo1989]

Da iawn da iawn, dwi'n hoffi'r fawr. Ond pam dych chi ddim yn siariad yng Ghymraeg?

You'll have to excuse me, I'm merely showing off my own linguistic skills and know the answer very well, great video though

[empath]

How on Earth did I let this sit for nine pages of comments and three years without posting my praise for this vid?

"...and you brought this on yourself."

In all honesty (and with the benefit of vast amounts of hindsight) I daresay the first question after being told that "Man" wants to renew his car insurance would be to ask for the existing policy number - even if it's lapsed, it'd have much of the information they'd ask for and even if some of it needed updating, it'd take less time to correct an existing file than create a new one. But then 1) I'm a double-barrelled, gold-plated anal retentive and I only spotted this after almost 36 months, and b) such a detail would have added almost nothing to the entertainment value of the vid.

Again, as all others have said, kudos for the unique rendering of something that has been touched on by others in the past, but not as...believable as your effort. From the handful of European tongues to the hybrid Jamacian patois, to the fictional (yet functional) language of Klingon, you all deliver perfectly!


Also I'm far too lazy to check it, but is Ben using ASCII for the 'numeric representation of a letter' use of binary? Or Unicode? Or...

[Vigafre]

If I remember correctly, he's just saying "P P P P" but in what language, I'm not sure. It's probably ASCII values.

[Graham]

It's binary. I think he's just spelling "P E E"

[the amativeness]

It's binary. I think he's just spelling "P E E"

This is correct. I remember looking this up shortly after the vid aired, and it's stuck in my mind ever since.

[tamaness]

See, I just re-read the first couple pages of this thread to find that out. (Also, the binary is translated into ASCII there; it'd be twice as long if it were Unicode).

This is one of my favorite (though forgotten) videos on the site, bee tee dub.

[Geoff_B]

The translation from Sean Connery to Interpretive Dance to Swedish Chef via German and Klingon was inspired. And the moment immediately following that was even better

[chetoos]

Regarding questions on how Matt was able to be understood by Mr. Hedere and Senor Philips, I have a theory: Matt is actually playing a norse god. He speaks english normally, but when he asks for a new thing, like klingon, swedish chef, or says he doesn't have a car, he says it in the alltongue, so that everyone can understand. Given the penchant for mischief he shows, it is logical to assume that he is Loki, or at least a student of the same.