Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Retarder mystery--

Hey Lisa, there was a request for the words underneath "retarder" on the bus. What does it say?

7 comments:

Lisa said...

I've got my people (aka my mom) working on it. Hopefully I'll have the answer soon.

Lisa said...

Here is what I am told it says: "Brake light is on even when secondary brake is on." Likely not as exciting as people had hoped...

Nate said...

yeah, I guess the language isn't so funny when it's in their native tongue.

Anonymous said...

I assume the name Retarder is a foreign name chosen for its cachet, but how weirdly appropriate is that name considering the Japanese translation. From the wiki:

"A retarder is a device used to augment or replace some of the functions of primary friction-based braking systems of (usually) heavy vehicles.
Torque converter, opened, interior similar to a retarder
Torque converter, opened, interior similar to a retarder

Friction-based braking systems are susceptible to 'fade' when used extensively, and this can become dangerous if the braking performance drops below that required to stop a vehicle -- for instance if a lorry or coach is descending a long incline. For this reason, such heavy vehicles are frequently fitted with a supplementary system that is not friction-based."

Or even stranger - what if they chose it from the French and it was a big joke:

"retarder
vt
[+personne]
retarder qn d'une heure to delay sb an hour
être retardé par qch to be delayed by sth, to be held up by sth
J'ai été retardé par un coup de téléphone. I was held up by a phone call.
retarder qn de 3 mois to set sb back 3 months, to delay sb 3 months
[+départ] delay ,
[+date] postpone, put back
retarder qch de 2 jours to put sth back 2 days, to delay sth by 2 days "

-D

Unknown said...

i've found a fantastic snl skit that exemplifies the culture gap. let me know if it sounds familiar:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a8BsHBnliN0

Luke said...

Wow...that is literally one of the best SNL skits I've ever seen. Good job Matt!

Unknown said...

I like to read Masa's site for this kind of stuff. His post on Tokyo street racing was pretty interesting. Not a Retarder in the group from the looks of it.


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