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Our Gallery
of the Uncommon is unstoppable. We believe the Mayor of
Entroncamento has manifested his concern for the progressive
loss of status of his city. (for foreign readers:
Entroncamento is a well known city in Portugal, with a
reputation for being a place for strange uncommon phenomena
to happen, such as growing potatoes that look like a rabbit
and – so people testify – really jump…)
This time, in the organization by INESC Porto of an
international event, the participants had to send some
documents – among which a letter to apply for financial
support that would ease their expenses to attend the
conference.
Some of the people who asked for such support did not
attach the right documents. The Inesquians are well known
for their patience, so our Sónia requested them to send the
document, this time, by e-mail, to make things easier.
Easier?
In response, one of the participants sent a message which
we are delighted to present, with no kind of distortion
whatsoever:
Caro Sónia,
Aqui você está. Pesaroso para não incluir a letra do começo.
Se a sustentação financeira puder ser concedida, eu serei
muito feliz ir à Porto.
A mais melhor consideração,
H.
Just in case we might not understand the Portuguese in
this (and why would that be?...), the gentle sir decided to
send the original version as well:
Dear Sónia,
Here you are. Sorry for not including the letter from the
start. If financial support can be granted, I will be very
happy to go to Porto.
Best regards,
H.
Of course, we understand: you people who are not
acquainted with Portuguese may have doubts why we all here
take a smile and more than a smile when reading the first
text. To give you however a flavor (largely insufficient),
here is the result of a translation back to English:
Expensive Sónia,
You are here. Sorrowful not to include the letter of the
beginning. If the financial sustenance is able to be
granted, I will be very happy to go to the Port.
The more better consideration,
Blessed machine translation… | 
