make-believe.org

Google as found poet

My housemate Gaby was telling me about her favourite Pablo Neruda poem the other day, which she only knows in its Spanish form as Me gustas cuando callas. After some digging I turned up a translation of its first two lines into English, rendered majestic and troubling by another human:

I like it when you're silent because it's like you're not there.

Wanting to read the whole poem, I typed the Spanish title into Google and optimistically clicked [Translate this page] on one of the results, getting:

I like when you shut up because you are like absentee.

Joseph | 20 Jun 2005