I Can Eat Glass
I Can Eat Glass was a website created in the mid-1990s that collected more than 150 translations of the phrase "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me".[1] Ethan Mollick, a then-student at Harvard, chose the unorthodox phrase because he believed visitors to foreign countries typically learn common phrases in the foreign language such as "where is the bathroom?" which instantly reveal they are tourists. "But, if one says 'I can eat glass, it doesn't hurt me,' you will be viewed as an insane native, and treated with dignity and respect", Mollick explained.[2][3] He described The I Can Eat Glass Project as "a challenge to the human spirit" and compared it to the Apollo program and the Panama Canal.
The site contained a world map that revealed detailed translations in the local language of the area a user clicked.[4] It was covered in the press in 1996.[5] Mollick's original page disappeared in or about June 2004,[6] but the phrase has continued as an absurdist example in linguistics.[7][8][9] The project is housed on the current website for The Immediate Gratification Players, a student improvisational comedy group of which Mollick was a member and which hosted the original site.[10]
The project grew to considerable size since web surfers were invited to submit translations.[11] The phrase was translated into over 150 languages, including some that are fictional or invented, as well as into code from various computer languages. It became an Internet meme.[12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Finegan, Edward (2004). Language: its structure and use. Thomson Wadsworth. p. 254. ISBN 9780838407943. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ Pollatsek, Alexander; Treiman, Rebecca, eds. (2015). The Oxford handbook of reading. Oxford library of psychology. Oxford New York Auckland: Oxford University Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0-19-932457-6.
- ^ Bernstein, Peter, ed. (September 8, 1997). The Practical Guide to Practically Everything. New York: Random House. p. 564. ISBN 9780375750298.
- ^ "Language sites are full of enjoyable surprises". The Plain Dealer. 1997-11-05. p. 45. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
- ^ "Knot a problem". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1996-04-06. p. 157. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
- ^ "UTF-8 Sampler". Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
- ^ "I Can Eat Glass without Hurting Myself". Fifty Words for Snow. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ "i can eat glass". mw.lojban.org. 30 June 2014. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023.
- ^ Blyth, Carl (2000). Untangling the Web. Wiley. pp. 48–49. ISBN 9780471392477.
- ^ "I Can Eat Glass". IGP. Archived from the original on 2023-08-28. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
- ^ Blyth, Carl S. (2000). Untangling the Web: Nonce's Guide to Language and Culture on the Internet. John Wiley & Sons. p. 48. ISBN 9780471392477. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ Wooten, Adam (21 October 2011). "International Business: Potty language: Safely navigating international water closets". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
External links
[edit]- Web Archive copy of I Can Eat Glass
- I Can Eat Glass, Harvard Immediate Gratification Players
- I Can Eat Glass in UTF-8, with notes by Frank da Cruz, Columbia University
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