PHP and MySQL™ Phrasebook

Introduction

Some time ago, my favorite development editor, Damon Jordan, sent me an email and closed it with “Ich möchte eine Föhnwelle,” which means “I’d like a blow wave.” Unfortunately, I didn’t know what either a Föhnwelle or a blow wave was, so I declined. He then told me he had found this sentence in a German phrasebook he recently bought.

I was interested and had a look at some German phrasebooks. I think they are great tools to get around in a foreign country, although I personally think that some of the phrases offered just don’t make sense. For instance, in one phrasebook, I found a series of pickup lines, including the ingenious “You have a beautiful personality,” something that didn’t work for me either in English, in German, or ...