English as She Is Spoke: Being a Comprehensive Phrasebook of the English Language, Written by Men to Whom English was Entirely Unknown (Collins Library)

by Paul Collins (Editor), José Da Fonseca (Author), Pedro Carolino (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $15.50

  In 1855, when Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino wrote an English phrasebook for Portuguese students, they faced just one problem: they didn't know any English...Even worse, they didn't own an English-to-Portuguese dictionary! What they did have, though, was a Portuguese-to-French dictionary, and a French-to-English dictionary. The linguistic train wreck that ensued is a classic of unintentional humor, now revived in the first newly selected edition in a century. Armed with Fonseca and Carolino's guide, a Portuguese traveler can insult a barber ('What news tell me? All hairs dresser are newsmonger'), complain about the orchestra ('It is a noise which to cleve the head'), go hunting ('let aim it! let make fire him'), and consult a handy selection of truly mystifying 'Idiotisms and Proverbs'.