Bite the Wax Tadpole

There is a famous urban legend about the disastrous introduction of Coca Cola into the Chinese market caused by a poor transliteration of Coca Cola's brand logo into Chinese.

The "legend" recounts that the famous white and red logo, when transliterated into Mandarin Chinese characters that sounded out "Co-Ka-Co-La, " actually meant "bite the wax tadpole."

According to Snopes.com - the famous "debunking" site for all urban legends - this is partly true, but the problem was resolved very quickly, long before any serious damage was done to the company's brand recognition!

However, this episode does serve as a great reminder that traditional cultural points of reference must be considered seriously when communicating across cultural boundaries. Otherwise, the message and its value can be lost in translation.

Ironically, due to the methodical research of Coca-Cola's team the logo in Chinese now literally says:

"To allow the mouth to be able to rejoice"

"To allow the mouth to be able to rejoice." I don't know about you, but to me, that sounds much more appealing than "The Real Thing!"

TRANSLATION VERSUS INTERPRETATION

I really enjoy browsing in bookstores - especially the "Spiritual Life" section, or whatever the "politically correct" term is for the section where books on Religion are found. I can't help but notice the increasing number of "versions" of the Bible and companion "Bible Study" books that are filling the shelves.

This is both good and bad news.

The Good News

With the advantage of high tech printing and improvements in communication and data access - the number of resources for study that are accessible to all of us have grown tremendously.

The Bad News

The need for rational and authoritative discernment is more important than ever.

Over the years I've probably accumulated literally 100's of Bibles of all different shapes and sizes, different translations, with different study features, cross references, indexes, commentaries. If there was a version out there that looked like it could make it easier to understand - I was all over it!!!

Without getting too specific I'll just make my point.....many of the Bible versions that are commonly available today are not really "Translations" - they are "Interpretations!!!"

With the philosophy of "Sola Scriptura" - Scripture Alone, a bi-product of the Reformation era, which declared the Bible "inerrent" (usually qualified "in its original autographs") and the "only source of truth for a Christian," together with the availability of literally hundreds of "versions" of the Bible - there are literally 1000's of denominations within Christianity that all claim a "unique" and "more correct" understanding of the Bible. All of them can use scripture authoritatively to justify their "position."

This is sad.....

So many of these churches were started based on a group of people's interpretation of the Bible. I would venture to say, this is so because the "interpretation" has been "written" or exposited into the "translation." Therefore - allegorically "Bite the Wax Tadpole" becomes the "literal" interpretation of a drink that "allows the mouth to be able to rejoice!!!"

However........

THE BIBLE IS BASED ON THE ORIGINAL CHURCH

The early church existed for many, many years before the New Testament, and indeed, the Bible that we know today, came into existence. The Apostles Peter and Paul, and others, spent the remainders of their lives after their encounter with the Risen Christ planting Church communities and unifying them with their in-person teaching and circulated pastoral letters.

When the Church began to spread throughout the world - it was because the Apostles had appointed leaders that had taken the Gospel and "interpreted" it through the eyes of the culture into which they came. The message was delivered by "word of mouth," through dialogue and cultural communication. Not specifically contemporary, but very relevant to its audience.

Thus, when the Eastern Orthodox Church speaks of the value of Tradition and Scripture together - it refers to this vital balance that must exist in order for the written scripture to be understood. Tradition in this sense is not "rule-based" rituals - but the keys to understanding and applying the intended meaning of the written record.

COCKNEY INTERPRETATION

My English heritage contains within its Anglo-Saxon /European roots, a link to a cultural group who call themselves "Cockney." One of the famous trademarks of this sub-culture is their intriguing use of a coded-language called "Cockney Rhyming Slang." I won't go into the history and development of that "language" - but it will serve to illustrate my point above about relying only on the translation of Scripture, without consideration of its meaning.

The following is from a Cockney "Translation" of the Bible:

Blimey! Jesus calms a storm
(Matthew 8; 23 - 27, Luke 8; 22 - 25)
"ONE evening, Jesus said to his chinas, "Let's go to the other side of this 'ere lake."

So they left all the people, and the disciples got into the nanny and set orf. There were quite a few other nannies there too.

And then, would you Adam and Eve it, a huge wind started to blow up, and the waves got so bloomin' big that they began to spill into the nanny. It got to the stage where the nanny was almost gonna fill up with fisherman's.

Despite all this, Jesus was at the back of the nanny 'aving a feather, lying there with his loaf on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said, "Teacher, we're about to die. Don't you care?"

Jesus got up from his little feather and shouted at the wind, "Oi, be quiet!" and he said to the waves, "Oi, be still!" The wind suddenly died dahn, and it became really calm. Jesus then said to his chinas, "What is it with you lot? Why were you all so frightened? Do you still not have faith?"

But the disciples were in a right ol' two and eight. "

- From, "The Cockney Bible" - available from Bible Reading Fellowship U.K.

Do you understand it? Probably not without some kind of cross-reference or access to a "traditional" understanding of the Cockney rhymes. Here's a link to help: Cockney Rhyming

Thanks for reading - I'm going to take a break now and have a glass of "bite the wax tadpole."

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!