Drivers may get lost in translation

Hungry tourists in Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics are advised to approach the following menu items with caution: “Corrugated iron beef,” “Chop the strange fish,” “Government abuse chicken.”

Actually, these dishes are fine to eat. However, the Chinese-to-English translation of these culinary specialties has proven to be hazardous to the language.

The BBC reports that Chinese Olympic officials have launched a campaign to clean up the goofy English now seen on menus, street signs, shopping malls and tourist attractions before the opening of the 2008 Games.

One change that definitely needs to be made: No longer referring to Ethnic Minorities Park as “Racist Park.”

And motorists driving in the rain will not be helped by road signs that read, “To Take Notice of Safe; The Slippery are Very Crafty.” “Slippery When Wet” will suffice.

Trivia time

The 1968 Detroit Tigers were one of six teams to come back from a three-games-to-one deficit to win the World Series. Which were the others?

Six of one ...

While waiting eagerly for the live feed of Dennis Green’s next postgame news conference, Briefing takes time out for some NFL picks:

* Carolina over Cincinnati: Chad Johnson and Steve Smith attended Santa Monica College together. The Santa Monica faculty is pleased with Smith’s postgraduate work, less enamored of Johnson’s “I’m a Fathead” commercials.

* Pittsburgh over Atlanta: Last Sunday, Troy Polamalu missed scoring on an interception return by only a hairnet.

* New York Jets over Detroit: Call it a consolation prize. Detroit gets the World Series, New York gets this.

* Jacksonville over Houston: UCLA fans would like to get a word in. So far, Maurice Jones-Drew has outscored Reggie Bush, four touchdowns to one.

* Arizona over Oakland: Four words give the Cardinals reason to live after Monday night debacle: “Next game at Raiders.”

* New England over Buffalo: Four words give Bills reason to shut the season down now: “We lost to Detroit.”

Half-dozen of

the other

As Kansas City braces for a field-goal shootout between Nate Kaeding and Lawrence Tynes, Briefing jots down a few more picks:

* Seattle over Minnesota: Deion Branch to former Seattle and current Minnesota guard Steve Hutchinson: “It’s great to be a Seahawk!”

Hutchinson: “Yeah, I know.”

* Indianapolis over Washington: Alternative music-loving NFL fans want to know: Can Portis head off sour times for numb Redskins?

* San Diego over Kansas City: Martyball returns to Kansas City? Chiefs have averaged 7.7 points in their three defeats. Martyball never left.

* Miami over Green Bay: Favre, Culpepper and Harrington gather for some old NFC North nostalgia: “Remember when the Bears had a worse quarterback than we did?”

* Philadelphia over Tampa Bay: Trying to even things up after Michael Clayton’s controversial no-catch-oh-wait-it-is-a-catch, instant replay officials rule that Tampa Bay actually lost to Oakland in that Super Bowl.

* Denver over Cleveland: Averaging 12.4 points a game, the Broncos are 4-1. Averaging 16.2 points a game, the Browns are 1-4. Jake Plummer to Charlie Frye: “Location, location, location.”

Trivia answer

The Pittsburgh Pirates did it twice, in 1925 and 1979. Others to rally from three-to-one deficits were the 1903 Boston Red Sox, the 1958 New York Yankees and the 1985 Kansas City Royals.

And finally

Former England player-turned-soccer-pundit Paul Merson, on England’s recent 2-0 loss to Croatia:

“People just looked lost. Too many players looked like fish on trees.”

mike.penner@latimes.com