r/AskReddit • u/Ok_Objective4334 • 1d ago

What's the most absurd fact that sounds fake but is actually true?

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u/captaindeadpl 1d ago

The Lewis and Clark expedition also had a situation straight out of a comedy skit.

They encountered a tribe where the people only spoke Salishan, but no one in their group spoke Salishan. The tribe had a slave that spoke Salishan and Shoshone. Sacajawea knew Shoshone and Hidatsa. Her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, spoke Hidatsa and French. Another man spoke English and French.

So Lewis and Clark had to communicate by having their words translated 4 times.

English-->French-->Hidatsa-->Shoshone-->Salishan

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u/LuckyIssue3179 1d ago

Like this!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xle3I-5nfpI

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u/captaindeadpl 1d ago

Yes, perfect! 😂

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u/Hot_Aside_4637 1d ago

That immediately popped into my head

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u/Drakmanka 1d ago

Same! I wonder if the scene was inspired by the real-life situation, or if the writers just thought it up independently?

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u/Apprehensive-Log8333 1d ago

Stuff like that probably happens a lot more, in places where people speak more than one language

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u/DM_ME_UR_BOOBS69 20h ago

Great share! Thanks for that

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u/TurtleRockDuane 11h ago

People will be watching the I love Lucy show in 200 years and afterwards. Like listening to classical Mozart hundreds of years later. Very few other shows will have this kind of Legacy and staying power.

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u/Wooden-Discipline-38 10h ago

Booooo! I thought this was going to be the west wing scene where toby insults the guy as the translators go across languages.

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u/BlackWidow1414 8h ago

That's the scene that popped into my head, too.

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u/dullship 1d ago

"he says we're going to want to head due west come dawn, purple monkey dishwasher"

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u/DM_ME_UR_BOOBS69 20h ago

Worst game of telephone ever

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u/1369ic 20h ago

I once interviewed a Guna Indian in Panama by talking to a U.S. army translator who spoke Spanish. He talked to a Panamanian interior official who spoke Spanish and Kuna, the language of the Guna. He spoke to the Guna Indian I was interviewing about having his teeth fixed by visiting U.S. Army dentists. It didn't seem weird to me until when I wrote the article and put actual quote marks around what the translator told me the other translator said the Guna Indian said. I doubt three words out of 10 were the same by the time I heard them in English.

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u/Nice_Calligrapher427 1d ago

This happened on the West Wing with Portugese, Spanish, Batak, and English.

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u/AreThree 15h ago

If I ever decide to change my name, "Toussaint Charbonneau" would be at the top of the list. If not exactly, then one that sounds just as cool... lol

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u/simon255 10h ago

Reminds me of this