She’s a Witch!

Biritululo

I’ve seen a few of Alan’s Words with No English Translation ds106 posts and decided to jump in the “lost in translation” fun. I drew the random word, “Biritululo.” Which apparently best translates as,

“What do you normally do when you have a dispute? Do you talk things over? Go to court? Well, in New Guinea, to settle disputes, the people rely on biritululo. Biritululo is the act of comparing yams (and I am hoping that is meant in the literal sense) to settle a dispute”

This reminded me of the many nonsensical tests that were used to determine whether or not one was a witch. My favorite test is the well know, if you float your a witch (burn her!) and if you don’t your innocent (and drown). Lose, lose.

Here’s a lovely Monty Python skit from the Holy Grail which revisits the “She’s a Witch!” theme.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g[/youtube]

The image is a CC licensed witch by miss pink 26. I did a little recoloring work in Photoshop and added, “Biritulio” using Old London font from DaFont.


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12 responses to “She’s a Witch!”

  1. Alan Levine Avatar

    Build a bridge out of her! Brilliant interpretation!

  2. […] the lead from cogdog, Lisa M Lane, Scottlo, Stephen Downes and now Michael Branson Smith I decided to also take jump into the photo word translation Visual Assignment 307: Make The […]

  3. Giulia Avatar

    I love how you didn’t make this literal. I also love that Monty Python sketch too, so this is really a double win. I will refrain from commenting on yams.

  4. scottlo Avatar

    I won’t refrain from commenting on yams. I don’t’ believe it for a minute. I think MBS is spinning a yarn once again. Or maybe it is yarns that are supposed to be compared to settle a dispute.

    On what sort of basis are the good people of New Guinea supposed to compare their yams? Size, flavor, shape, windspeed? I mean such a game is ripe for rigging.

    Moving on from yams or yarns, just want to say this is another great contribution to a pretty cool assignment. It’s’ cool to be leaving 2011 behind with such happy happenings as doing ds106 assignments and getting feedbacks from all over the world.

  5. […] step. But I’d just learned about the DaFont site today from MBS’s awesome She’s a Witch post and I wanted to use it while it was still fresh in my […]

  6. Lisa M Lane Avatar

    In my experience, yams aren’t very riggable. The question is the extent to which size matters. And whether they float in water.

  7. Jim Groom Avatar

    They turned me into a newt….I got better!

  8. mbransons Avatar

    @Alan @Giulia and @jimgroom I think I spent the better part of 9th and 10th grade trading these quotes and others from Holy Grail, Meaning of Life, and Life of Brian with friends. “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”

    @scottlo and @lisa I think we may have stumbled into a ds106 yam assignment. http://www.hamandyam.com/festival-info/complete-schedule-of-events/whats-that-yam-thing-contest

  9. […] started in the comments of Michael Branson Smith’s No Words Assignment with just a few clever Monty Python quips, some word play a challenge and then a wave of new yam […]

  10. […] Branson Smith’s suggestion of a yam meme begins to take shape in this idea, that we could put a yam into a movie still and still have […]

  11. […] Branson Smith's suggestion of a yam meme begins to take shape in this idea, that we could put a yam into a movie still and still have […]