Go CIDU, Go!

Cidu Bill on Jun 8th 2010

speedracer.png

Was there some indication that Speed Racer is racist??

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, PVP Online, Speed Racer, comic strips, comics, humor | 23 responses so far

23 Responses to “Go CIDU, Go!”

  1. More fantasy, less reality, no baby blues Jun 8th 2010 at 12:04 pm 1

    His business cards are mistranslated.

  2. Winter Wallaby Jun 8th 2010 at 12:12 pm 2

    “Racist” meaning someone who “races.” It’s supposed to be a bad translation, not an accurate description of Speed Racer.

  3. CaroZ Jun 8th 2010 at 12:13 pm 3

    I think it’s an Engrish thing: he took the translation from the wrong definition of “race.” (”racer” “racist”)

  4. Kamino Neko Jun 8th 2010 at 12:52 pm 4

    Yeah, it’s just an Engrish joke.

    Of course, Speed Racer’s a bad choice to do that joke, since the translations of Mach Go Go Go into Speed Racer were idiosyncratic, but not Engrishy.

    I can’t think of a pro translation that is Engrishy, though….

  5. Michael Jun 8th 2010 at 01:03 pm 5

    This should be moved to the LOL category. I know I found it hilarious… but then I was just viewing the engrishfunny.com website prior to coming here.

  6. Nicole Jun 8th 2010 at 01:24 pm 6

    Poor translation of a foreign language to English is a pretty standard joke, but perhaps not totally unwarranted. There is this list, collected by Air France employees, of signs from around the world:
    http://www.cartalk.com/content/read-on/2010/05.01.html

    I have no way of verifying the veracity of the signage … so let the buyer beware.

  7. PeterW Jun 8th 2010 at 02:16 pm 7

    There was a blog post right under this strip that I would have thought explained it if the strip itself wasn’t enough.

  8. Chuck Jun 8th 2010 at 02:20 pm 8

    Made me lol.

  9. Tyler H Jun 8th 2010 at 02:35 pm 9

    But his name is Speed Racer! Shouldn’t he know…

  10. Nicole Jun 8th 2010 at 02:40 pm 10

    Am I the only one who sees the irony of calling the monkey a racist ?

  11. skeltometer Jun 8th 2010 at 03:02 pm 11

    This is ROTFLOL territory for me as a devotee of the show growing up. The show gave us great lines line, “This secret film was filmed secretly.” “Meanwhile, the Kopetapekans perform a WEIRD ritual.” And the ultimate comeback lilne of all time, “No, I’m not wacky, I’m a GENIUS.”

    Great comic, GREAT comic.

  12. Bob in Nashville Jun 8th 2010 at 05:40 pm 12

    Looks like a computor translator joke.

    Sort of like type anything into, say, Babblefish, translate into another language, translate the result back into English, and hilarity ensues.

  13. BobH Jun 8th 2010 at 06:29 pm 13

    Similar type of type translates the result which with anything in another language, is translated again in English in Babblefish, makes merry and the noise continues.

  14. BoT Jun 8th 2010 at 07:09 pm 14

    Yeah, I’m with Michael, Chuck, and skeltometer on this one… hilarious!

  15. WhitneyD Jun 8th 2010 at 07:15 pm 15

    I thought it was hilarious! Frankly, Brent in the 4th panel explained it all. Just a bad translation through and through. While yeah, Speed Racer isn’t exactly the best show to use that joke on… I can’t think off too many other Japanese shows that involved racing that are as well known as Speed Racer.

  16. Eric D Jun 8th 2010 at 08:34 pm 16

    C&H did a short called Speed Racist a few months ago.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mymBE1JhRr0

  17. mkilby Jun 8th 2010 at 09:43 pm 17

    That C&H “short” is at least 100 seconds too long.

  18. Chuck Jun 9th 2010 at 03:08 am 18

    Is his actual NAME Speed Racer? If it is, then he might not understand that a racer races; it’s just his name.

  19. chuckers Jun 9th 2010 at 08:27 am 19

    His name in the Japanese version was Goh MIFUNE. His name got “translated” to Speed Racer in the American version.

  20. George P Jun 9th 2010 at 09:15 am 20

    Did his parents suddenly grow that mean sense of humor between the first and second sons? Why wasn’t Rex named something like “Fast”?

  21. Chuck Jun 9th 2010 at 11:23 am 21

    In the Fudge series the oldest child notes how lucky he is that the candy naming started with his younger brother, though in that case they were only nicknames.

  22. George P Jun 9th 2010 at 04:49 pm 22

    It’s off topic, but I recently picked up the first twenty episodes of Ultraman for $5 at Target. As amazon.com reviews note, the picture quality is poor, and the sound has problems, but it’s a quarter an episode for something I haven’t seen in 35 or 40 years. OK, maybe I’ll reach an Ultraman saturation point before I watch all the episodes. It’s still a good deal.

  23. Rain Jun 11th 2010 at 06:23 am 23

    @ nicole #10–I was trying not to go there . . . but am ashamed to admit that yeah. I went there.

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