Translating Nick Cummins

It’s funny how most of us can be wowed by people throwing, running, catching or kicking a ball. Leather or pigskin, it doesn’t matter. We love it.

We marvel at athleticism, flamboyant skills, the ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, and vice versa. We love it when it goes well and we love it so much when it goes wrong because then we become that exalted oracle of all that is good and true, also known as the armchair critic.

We love the entertainment on the field. But every now and then an elite athlete shows up who can be so entertaining just by opening his mouth and saying a few words. One such person is an Australian rugby player named Nick Cummins.

Meeting Nick Cummins is loving him. But the difficult thing is to know it, especially if you do not come from Australia. Nick Cummins speaks English but not like you know him. To follow what he is saying, you need to understand the peculiar eccentricities of Australian English. If you don’t understand him, you won’t know what the hell he’s talking about.

Let me impose on you a couple of Nick Cummins-isms so that you understand what I mean.

Nick Cummins has a nickname. It is known as the honey badger. He was being interviewed after a rugby match and was asked how he came up with the nickname and this is what he said:

“One of the stories that inspires me is that it is documented that a honey badger killed a lion in a one-on-one. What happened was that he ripped the baskets from the big guy. Bag and the big boy turned the bag around. corner and fell … that for me is exceptional. “

If you read that paragraph two or three times, you might understand what it is eluding. Something like. Possibly. The Japanese do not. Nick Cummins is currently playing pro in Tokyo and the Japanese called him Honey Budger, which is kind of cute.

But really, Nick Cummins needs to be accompanied at all times by a professional translator. Luckily for you, I speak perfect Aussie and am happy to be able to translate your best quotes and turn them into something like English.

Quote: “I just saw the line, pinned my ears back and ended up pocketing some meat in the corner above it.”

Translation: I saw the test line, accelerated to the limit of my abilities and managed to score, which was nice.

Quote: “Yeah dude, damn it, it was like a rat stuck in a drain pipe in one of the corridors over there.”

Translation: I ran particularly fast in one case.

Quote: “He was huffing and puffing and buddy he got it right, he always does, he’s a tough cock.”

Translation: My teammate was breathing heavily, but he persevered. He always does. It’s very tough.

Quote: “I’m going to have a truck full of pudding and, uh, my mom is good at cooking too, so daddy has the tucker ready there and mommy and daddy will work together and form a massive feed and I’m going to come in and master it.”

Translation: I intend to eat a large quantity of pudding. My mother is also more than proficient in the culinary arts. My father is preparing food there. The two of you will combine their talents to create a meal of sufficiently large proportions. So I intend to devour it all.

Quote: “I was busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.”

Translation: I was under extraordinary pressure due to the workload they gave me during the match.

Of course, when people hear Nick Cummins say these things, they are a bit surprised, but in a good way. To borrow an Australianism, the Honey Badger is a pretty silly character and sadly, there are very few of them.

But it would be too easy and unfair to describe Nick Cummins as a one-trick pony when it comes to producing actions that we can laugh at and admire both on and off the sports field.

He is also a very devoted and loving son to his parents and his brothers and sisters. As a rugby player, Nick Cummins is at the top of his game. Play test rugby for Australia. But very recently he turned his back on the game in Australia to play professional rugby in Japan, but not for the reasons you might think.

Yes, he did it for the money. But not for him, it was for his family. Nick Cummins’ father has incurable prostate cancer that has prevented him from working and has placed a considerable burden on the family finances. Nick Cummins has seven siblings, two of whom have cystic fibrosis, an incurable lung disease. So Nick stepped in and stepped forward. He accepted a lucrative contract, but will help the family through very difficult times.

Cummins has 40,000 followers on Instagram, 34,000 on Twitter, and his game videos have millions of views on YouTube.

He is one of the few people who can win over an entire host nation on an Australian rugby tour with a few words selected from a post-match television interview.

While in Japan, he filmed some television commercials. You should take a look at them. Like the old spice guy but a lot more fun in my opinion.

So it’s gone, but not forgotten. Hopefully he will be back soon to entertain us again. The world needs guys like Nick Cummins and not just because we like to see a skilled athlete. It makes us laugh and that is the best kind of medicine there is.