Translation error?

[alfie]

On one bit in the prison, you find an item called "chipper", I believe you meant "chisel". Sorry if this has been said before, if it has please delete this thread.

[NGW]

I wouldn't see it as any kind of error really.

Things can have different names for themselves ya know.

[MulleDK19]

I wouldn't see it as any kind of error really.

Things can have different names for themselves ya know.

Except that chipper is a huge machine powered by a tractor.

[nofsky]

It's correct to call it chipper. It's kind of a nickname based on the word chipping (to break a small piece from something).

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chipper
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chipping

[MulleDK19]

It's correct to call it chipper. It's kind of a nickname based on the word chipping (to break a small piece from something).

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chipper
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chipping

Not really.

Chipper:

Chisel:

[Harry]

As Nofsky said, perfectly acceptable to call a Chipper. Just as a Chipper is so named because of what it produces, so an object can be named by what it does.

There is no right or wrong way when you talk about the English language as it all depends on local slang, nicknames, changing usage, etc.

To me, its a perfectly acceptable translation.

[MulleDK19]

As Nofsky said, perfectly acceptable to call a Chipper. Just as a Chipper is so named because of what it produces, so an object can be named by what it does.

There is no right or wrong way when you talk about the English language as it all depends on local slang, nicknames, changing usage, etc.

To me, its a perfectly acceptable translation.

So a horse carriage in the 18th century should be called a car?

A Chipper is a machine. Just like a machine that computes is called a Computer. But that doesn't mean that old mathemathical devices from the 18th century were called Computers.

[iTIMMEH]

One of the problems I had with the game was the in places rather hammy dialogue, which I partly attribute to translation.

A chisel is most certainly not a chipper. If you go into a DIY or hardware store and ask for a chipper, you will not be directed towards chisels without first explaining what you want to do. At which point the store assistant will say "Ah, you mean a chisel?"

I'd be interested to know if the translation was carried out or checked over by someone whose first language is English?

[superluser]

A Chipper is a machine. Just like a machine that computes is called a Computer. But that doesn't mean that old mathemathical devices from the 18th century were called Computers.

No, that word was reserved for groups of people who performed mathematical calculations.

As for chipper, the term does not refer to a chisel, though it can certainly refer to the thing they put Steve Buscemi through.

[Harry]

I never said anything about being anachronistic, merely that one can either call it a chipper or a chisel without being blatantly wrong. In fact, seeing as there are stone chippers and wood chisels, it could be a case of a stone chipper.

In my post I was merely saying that there are many different names for things, even in English, varying from place to place. What might be understandable to Americans might be strange to the British, etc.