13 AUGUST 1921, Page 16

DANGER IN DICTIONARIES.

(To THE EDITOR Of THE " SPECTATOR-9 SIL—The following translation I took from a French toy, the maker of which was anxious that the English purchaser should understand its working. I have never met with a better example of the danger involved in using dictionaries. The translator has gone out of his way to adopt the one English meaning of the French word which did not represent what he really wished to say. The result is comic.

1. Fixer le chargeur A sur la To fix the loader A on the partie euperieure dee deux superior party of the two thread tuontants en entrant lea deux in the two flood tide.

file dans lee deux fourreaux

uttenants aux montants.

2. Placer le r4oepteur B devant To put the recipient B before

le jouet, et sous is d6versoir C. the plaything and under the waste weir C.

3. Placer lee billes dans le To put the billiard ball in the chargeur A; ramener le chariot loader A. To bring back in the dans le bas des montanta. et loader in the down of the flood rabandonner 4 lui meme. tide, and give over it. Im- Aussitbt lea bonshommes se mediately the men put them to go

mettront i descendre lea Mlles. down the billiard ball.

NOTICE. ACCOUNT.

This plaything commend him- self by his. scientifical prove; it is an amusing application on the law of the weight and of the knowledge force. Ce jouet re recommande per sa demonstration seientifique; c'eat nue application amusante des lois de la pesanteur et de la force acquise.

—I am, Sir, &c.,

Hadham Hall, Little Hadham, Herts. W. MINET.