Last Friday, I ate at Santana Row with some non-Googlers and my coworker Alipé.
At one point, Alipé and I were talking amongst ourselves, about whether a ping pong table would fit into a particular Google building.
Me: "Couldn't the table go upstairs?"
Alipé : "That area's pretty crowded. It's where they work on Generic Product." (He's referring to a confidential product that hasn't been released.)
Me: "Alipé, don't talk about that here. You don't want to be the one to leak Generic Product!"
Alipé: "Loose lips stop ships."
I guess this is supposed to be funny because Alipé was supposed to say, "Loose lips, sink ships." ?
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/3epqf5
I guess the problem lies with me...
*groan*
ReplyDeleteHis mistake is supposed to be more appropriate in this context than the original saying--e.g. it makes more sense to talk of stopping the shipment of Generic Product than sinking it (if you're also willing to roll with the term ship being a shortened form of the word shipment). Or so the Germans would have us believe. :)
ReplyDeleteAh, but that assumes Alipé actually made a mistake! By definition, this cannot occur. What is so funny is that the vast majority of the viewing public curtly assumes Alipé made a mistake, when in fact Alipé was making a deliberate attempt at humor. Now that is funny, bitches! :D
ReplyDeleteYes, I guess we are assuming Alipé is making a mistake. Perhaps I am wrongfully assuming that Alipé, given his name seems foreign to me, that he is incorrectly recalling a World War II phrase, when in reality, he has re-engineered the term for current and Google appropriate context.
ReplyDeleteIf indeed that is the case, "Loose lips stop ships." makes a lot of sense and I guess the problem does lie within me!
But when a secret project become publicly knowledgeable, does it make sense to stop working on it and never ship it?
If the iPhone had been leaked, would Apple have stop shipping it - I don't think so!
Ha! I feel better (read:superior) after reading the other comments, as I did not in fact assume Alipé made a mistake.
ReplyDeleteThough ... I could be wrong...
:P
Bonus points to john k. lin for over-analysis of a reasonably well-done pun. :D
For what little it's worth, I didn't assume he made a mistake; I was groaning at the pun.
ReplyDelete