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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.