[2905] in Humor
Message to the Moon
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian T Sniffen)
Sat Aug 21 19:23:25 1999
To: humor@MIT.EDU
From: Brian T Sniffen <brians@MIT.EDU>
Date: 21 Aug 1999 19:22:42 -0400
When NASA was preparing for the Apollo project, they did some astronaut
training on a Navajo Indian reservation.
One day, a Navajo elder and his son were herding sheep and came across
the space crew. The old man, who spoke only Navajo, asked a question
which his son translated. "What are these guys in the big suits
doing?"
A member of the crew said they were practicing for their trip to the
moon. The old man got all excited and asked if he could send a message
to the moon with the astronauts.
Recognizing a promotional opportunity for the spin-doctors, the NASA
folks found a tape recorder. After the old man recorded his message,
they asked the son to translate it. He refused.
So the NASA reps brought the tape to the reservation where the rest
of the tribe listened and laughed but refused to translate the elder's
message to the moon.
Finally, the NASA crew called in an official government translator. He
reported that the moon message said, "Watch out for these guys; they
have come to steal your land."
