flippancy

More innovative translation, courtesy of Google. Somehow, I’m not surprised this would happen to Charlie Brooker:

A Danwei reader sent in Google's translation for the English word "flippant". It comes out as "刺杀布什的凶手" or "the assassin who stabbed Bush"

…Google seems to have defined the Chinese translation of "flippant" by looking at a Guardian article by Charlie Booker that hinted that someone should assassinate George Bush. After a public outcry, the paper issued an apology that read, in part: "Although flippant and tasteless, his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action..."

A Chinese summary of the affair includes the words 刺杀布什的凶手 in close proximity to the translation of the apology, so that, or something very similar, is probably responsible for Google's translation error.

Can’t find the original anywhere. But it lives!