Faults of Technology
Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.
I have a common English phrase. I feed this phrase into a computer translation program. This translates it into a foreign language then back into English again. Unfortunately, because computers do not understand idiom and sarcasm, the phrase has been changed. It now reads:
BLIND, INSANITY.
What was the original phrase?
HintThe phrase is six words long: three before the comma and three after.
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Answer
Out of sight, out of mind.
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Comments
samm   
Sep 02, 2003
| Very clever! |
cbmorris901 
Nov 18, 2003
| I like it alot!!  |
_rab
Nov 18, 2003
| How about "I'm so mad, I can't see". That also fits your hint. |
Rachmoose
Nov 18, 2003
| that wouldn't work because blind comes before insanity.  |
Rachmoose
Nov 18, 2003
| also i've never heard of "i'm so mad in can't see" before |
Joanie
Nov 18, 2003
| This will be one of my favorites. Thanks. |
c13urly
Nov 18, 2003
| Now that one I like.  |
caffeine15
Nov 30, 2003
| That was real good. Got anymore? |
Golfman072
Dec 30, 2003
| Very Good, well thought out.  |
shdwhawk 
Nov 18, 2004
| To what language has it been changed to before it was changed back into english? I cannot think of any language that has a phrase with both 'out of mind' and 'insanity' as meaning. |
Tiggr
Nov 18, 2004
| Very clever  I could've never thought of that  but keep 'em comin' |
StepIntoNoWhere
Nov 18, 2004
| this was pretty good.. it was kinda easy.. |
I_am_the_Omega
Nov 18, 2004
| Yeah ok Step.. we all know you wish you'd got it...
I thought it might be "Don't be religious, you'll go insane." :-)
Great teaser.. wish I'd thought of it lol... |
passion
Nov 18, 2004
| great one, one of my favorites... |
mrvain52601
Nov 19, 2004
| I think the answer is actually one word:
Blind Insanity = MARRIAGE! |
smarty_blondy
Oct 09, 2005
| Very clever. |
boodler
Jan 18, 2006
| I heard this years (25) ago, where translating this to Russian and back to English resulted in "invisible idiot" |
avonma
Nov 18, 2007
| This was a good one. I didn't get it, but it was very clever.  |
craniac
Nov 18, 2007
| Fun teaser. Only way I got it was by using the hint. |
craniac
Nov 18, 2007
| Fun teaser. Only way I got it was by using the hint. |
doehead
Nov 18, 2007
| After a little thought it popped in to my head.Good teaser |
bradon182001
Nov 18, 2007
| Very clever indeed. I like this one, didn't get it, but find it fun anyways. |
auntiesis
Nov 18, 2007
| Loved this one, it is really clever, and cute. |
katjojo
Nov 18, 2007
| That was really good! |
mondayschild59
Nov 18, 2007
| That one made me laugh out loud, my husband thought I was crazy. It's one of the better ones I've seen lately. Thanks so much for posting.
Monday~ |
(user deleted)
Nov 18, 2007
| Bad. First, it's mixing and adjective (blind) before the comma with a noun (insanity), after it, when the original structures are the same ("out of..."). A correct answer should be "blind, insane" or "blindness, insanity." Both should preserve the comma since nothing in the formulation of the quiz tells you to get rid of it. Second, the supposed foreign language translation makes no sense. In any translation, the "out of" structure would be preserved. Can I give it zero stars? |
fmercury
Nov 19, 2007
| Wow, someone above me has had too much coffee, relax, it's a quiz! |
Yorkshire-Boy 
Nov 19, 2007
| liked it... when I send an email to our 'helpdesk', the sofware suggest 'Helpless' which is sometimes very appropriate...I think I will give some cheese to this mouse on my desk !  |
UlsterCharlotte
Nov 19, 2007
| Sorry, I have to agree with Roboso. The prepositions of a phrase still hold weight in a computerized translation. This happens way too often on Braingle; people need to do some research before they think they've come up with a clever teaser, when in fact it's really obscure. |
Barticus
Nov 19, 2007
| I first heard this gag in 1978, and I didn't like it then.  It ahsn't improved. |
dogg6pound9
Nov 21, 2007
| good teaser... took me a couple minutes but i got it with ease (once my coffee woke me up a little bit)... |
breathesunshine
Nov 21, 2007
| Ah ha ha! I loved it! |
Ladyluck129
Nov 26, 2007
| I probably would've had trouble with this if I hadn't heard the answer somewhere else recently...
Great teaser, though! |
precious1026
Nov 18, 2010
| Out of Sight Out of Mind, fails to imply Blind Insanity. The phase don't imply blindness or insanity. The phase implies, Not around, less thought of or don't think about. I liked the Teaser, but it doesn't apply to this phase at all. I believe it has a relational meaning or tends to lean towards your loved one is gone, so I will think less of them or not think of them at all. But that is just one of the more familiar meanings -   |
precious1026
Nov 18, 2010
| As a matter of Fact, this Teaser is Not a good teaser. This Teaser is a lie. And as I read the comments, I see how many people were taken in by this bogus saying. I am sorry, Out of Sight, Out of Mind is such a widely used idiom that seeing it in this guise lets me know just how people change the meaning of things without consideration for the true creator. This is why Copyrights are so important....  |
flyfisher
Nov 18, 2010
| Yeah, I didn't get the answer either |
kwelchans
Nov 18, 2010
| If the computer does not recognize idiom, it would not know that "out of mind" is an idiom for insane, so it would not translate it that way. |
wordmama
Nov 18, 2010
| Thank you, Kwelchans. Precious obviously has no idea what an idiom is. By definition it does not translate word for word from language to language, not even WITHIN a language! It's the expression as a whole that has the meaning, not the individual words. Understanding that, I got the answer immediately, no hint, no thinking needed. (and no coffee yet!) And thanks to the submitter! |
wordmama
Nov 18, 2010
| What was Precious babbling about in her follow-up post??? |
dani4w45t
Nov 18, 2010
| I liked that! That was awesome! I'd love to see more like this :-) |
jcann
Nov 18, 2010
| I thought we are not supposed to suggest spelling or grammar corrections. To those who are quibbling about blind being a being an adjective and insanity a noun--O.K. maybe "blind; insane" would be more grammatically correct, but I believe the teaser makes sense anyway and some comments are quite petty. |
patiencewithaP
Nov 18, 2010
| I think this was a great teaser...even though I didn't get it! Good job! |
Aaronnp
Nov 18, 2010
| good!! you could also have used unseen idiot. |
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