Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.

Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.

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Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
Caillte san aistriúchán

Caillte san aistriúchán

That's "lost in translation" in Gaelic. At least, that's what Google Translate tells me. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

Bill Murphy Jr.'s avatar
Bill Murphy Jr.
Oct 21, 2021
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Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
Understandably by Bill Murphy Jr.
Caillte san aistriúchán
7
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A state trooper stops a woman for speeding and illegally tinted windows.

The trooper grows suspicious. Little things, but they add up. Her ignition key has no other keys on the keychain, there are two cell phones resting in the car’s center console, and there’s “a strong odor of air freshener.”

That’s all it takes; he wants to search her car for drugs. But, he has a problem. He needs her consent.

Cops can use all kinds of verbal gymnastics to get people to agree to otherwise unlawful searches, but he speaks only English; she speaks only Spanish.

Problem solved, the trooper thinks, as he pulls up Google Translate on his personal cell phone.

  • What the trooper says into Translate: “I want to search your car.”

  • What Translate actually spits out, in Spanish, according to an FBI linguist who later watches the body cam footage and testifies: “I like to search the car to make sure everything is OK.”

There’s a big difference, a court agreed recently, throwing out evidence that had been discovered dur…

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