tbentley.com

In the Times, July 27, writing about two new cars:

In the case of leases, the leasing company is eligible to claim the credit. Nissan plans to lease the base model of the Leaf for $349 a month for three years with $1,999 because of delivery. The Volt’s $350-a-month lease is also for three years, with $2,500 due at delivery.

Is this a case of mistranslation?  “$1999 because of deliver”, where obviously, as the next phrase shows, it should be “due at delivery.”  A reasonable computer mistake: ‘due at’ becomes ‘because of’ (think of ‘due to’ and ‘because of’).

Wait–here’s what (I think) happened!  Some Japanese publicist wrote a press release in Japanese, and then used some translation software (google translate?) to convert it to English.  The press release was passed on to a writer at the Times, who used cut-and-paste to fill out the story.  Really sloppy journalism, folks.

No one hears the tremble in your voice.

No one knows you’ve had too much wine.

You’ve got a permanent record of what you said, and what your correspondent said.

You read it at your convenience, not at the sound of a bell.

You respond after you’ve had a chance to think about your answer.

You can say as much as you want.  No one to interrupt.