Janet jazz jazz jam, cat pornography and the Chinese Year of Whores: The hilarious and bizarre subtitle blunders that have left the BBC lost for words
- Blunders have aired on broadcaster's News, Sport and Weather channels
- One gaffe sees BBC welcome Chinese viewers into 'year of the whores'
- Another features news report on pigs that 'nibble anything, even willies'
- And footballer Adnan Junazaj's name translated as 'Janet jazz jazz jam'
- Seventy television channels in the UK now provide a subtitling service
- Last year, Ofcom demanded that broadcasters monitor quality of subtitles
- BBC said it strives to keep mistakes 'to minimum' and 'improve accuracy'
They have killed off 500 actors, encouraged 'a moment's violence' at the Queen Mother's funeral and given pigs an unusual diet of, er...
willies.
These are the hilarious subtitle blunders that have aired on the BBC - leaving both staff and viewers lost for words.
They are among many mistakes to have prompted a crackdown on the quality of subtitles - with a report set to be published by Ofcom this spring.
One gaffe sees the broadcaster mark the Chinese New Year by welcoming viewers into the 'year of the whores'.
Embarrassing: The BBC marks the Chinese New Year by welcoming viewers into the 'year of the whores' during a bulletin in January.
The channel later insisted the error was acknowledged and quickly corrected - to 'horse'
Error: A reporter's comment that 'pigs nibble anything, even wellies' takes on a different meaning when the last word is substituted for 'willies'.
The mistake in 2011 later fuelled a Mock the Week subtitles gaffes segment
Mistake: Another blunder sees a court reporter quoted as saying: 'And the cat's pornography reading was low'
The subtitling error, which happened during a bulletin at around 7pm on January 31, saw BBC News declare: ‘Welcome to the year of the whores.
People around the globe celebrate.'
However, the channel later insisted that the error was acknowledged and quickly corrected - to the 'year of the horse'.
Another blunder sees a reporter's comment that 'pigs nibble anything, even wellies' take on a completely different meaning when the last word is substituted for 'willies'.
The mistake, which happened during a news report in 2011, soon went viral on Twitter - and even fuelled a Mock the Week subtitles gaffes segment.
Lost in translation: Last Sunday, the BBC struggled to get to grips with the name of footballer Adnan Junazaj - misspelling his name as 'Janet jazz, jazz jam'.
However, it correctly spelled the names of other players
Hot prospect: Januzaj broke into the Manchester United team as a winger this season - despite only being 18
And last Sunday, the BBC struggled to get to grips with the name of 18-year-old winger, Adnan Junazaj, who broke into the Manchester United team this season.
The broadcaster correctly spelled the names of other United players Javier Hernandez, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata - before stumbling over the youngster's name.
HOW DOES SUBTITLING WORK?
Seventy channels in the UK currently provide subtitling services, according to watchdog Ofcom.
Most of these air pre-recorded programmes - for which, subtitling can be prepared in advance.
This means that subtitles can be synchronised to images, edited to a reasonable reading speed and checked for errors.
However, live programming and some pre-recorded programmes have to be subtitled live - leaving them prone to mistakes.
These subtitles are delayed by several seconds and typically scroll across the screen.
And it isn't the first time the BBC has misspelled a name to amusing effect.
The broadcaster has previously referred to Italian prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as 'Mr Beryl Beryl' - while Labour leader Ed Miliband became 'Ed Miller Band'.
Meanwhile, former chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson was once dubbed 'Silly and Admundsen' - with the National Union of Students renamed as the National Union of Stew Departments.
Other blunders have seen the Ireland rugby team referred to as Island, the sale of millions of puppies - not poppies - in Britain on Remembrance Day, a 'cat's pornography reading' disclosed during a court report and a solemn call for silence become 'a moment's violence' during the Queen Mother's funeral in 2002.
During one particularly toe-curling moment, many viewers would have been left wondering how a man could have possibly named his 10-year-old son 'phrase whore' - only to realise his name was actually 'Fraser'.
Shocking: A man sees his son Fraser's name changed to 'phrase whore' in one particularly toe-curling blunder
Fox or frost? The gaffes are not just restricted to News and Sports channels - with one of the broadcaster's Weather presenters previously subtitled as saying: 'they would be a few more mist and Fox patches'
And when one BBC announcer revealed the Government was ‘making helpful decisions', deaf members of the audience would have been confused as to why politicians were ‘making holes for surgeons'.
The embarrassing gaffes are not just restricted to the BBC's News and Sports channels - with one of the broadcaster's Weather presenters previously subtitled as saying: 'they would be a few more mist and Fox patches'.
And most of the blunders have not gone unnoticed with the public - with celebrities also picking up on the bizarre mistakes.
Not just the BBC: ITV has previously misquoted star Engelbert Humperdinck as 'engle Bert humper distinct'
Blunder: And This Morning once accidentally confused the word 'rate' for 'rape' during a fashion segment
In June last year, Dr Christian Jessen tweeted: 'The typos on BBC news subtitles are quite funny sometimes. Today "500 actors are set to be killed" later corrected to "500 badgers". Phew!'
However, the BBC is not the only broadcaster to have suffered hilarious subtitle gaffes - with 70 channels in the UK now providing a subtitling service.
ITV has previously misquoted Eurovision star Engelbert Humperdinck as 'engle Bert humper distinct', while This Morning once accidentally confused the word 'rate' for 'rape' during a fashion segment.
Last year, Ofcom demanded that broadcasters monitor the quality of subtitles, which are used by more than a million people, every six months for two years.
Victims: The BBC has previously referred to Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (left) as 'Mr Beryl Beryl', while Labour leader Ed Miliband (right) became 'Ed Miller Band' during one of the broadcaster's news reports
A consultation which started in May suggested that problems began when pre-recorded programmes were delivered to broadcasters too late to allow subtitles to be prepared in advance.
Ofcom will publish a report based on its findings in spring 2014, and use the evidence to decide is changes to the current guidelines are needed.
A BBC spokesman said: 'We recognise that subtitling is a hugely important service, and we endeavour to ensure it is as accurate as possible.
'As with all broadcasters, there are occasions - particularly during live broadcasts - when mistakes inevitably occur, but we do all we can to keep this to a minimum and are constantly striving to deliver a reliable service.'
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