It is a phrase you would not associate with one of the holiest men alive. Indeed, it must have caused the stenographer a little consternation when the Dalai Lama apparently finished his speech with a very frank ‘f*** it’ to an audience of students at Brown University in Rhode Island. Still, the stenographer had to transcribe [...]

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Dalai Lama’s accent turns ‘forget’ into profanity

By Eddie Wrenn
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It is a phrase you would not associate with one of the holiest men alive. Indeed, it must have caused the stenographer a little consternation when the Dalai Lama apparently finished his speech with a very frank ‘f*** it’ to an audience of students at Brown University in Rhode Island.

Still, the stenographer had to transcribe what he heard – or thought he had heard – and flashed the phrase up on the closed caption video screens. So those relying on the screens for dialogue heard His Holiness finish his message of peace by telling them them they could do the unspeakable.

Embarrassingly, the His Holiness was just being polite, telling the audience that if they did not agree with his views on world peace, they could just … forget. The Dalai Lama, delivering the memorial lecture at Brown University on Wednesday, called on the audience to create a peaceful society through dialogue.

The offending phrase came towards the send of the speech, when the 77-year-old said: ‘If you feel these points are not much relevant – not much interest – then forget.’ But the now presumably-blushing stenographer had to go with his first instinct, and the exact phrase he wrote on the screens in the hall was ‘f— it’.

This is not the first time the Dalai Lama has been heard not swearing.The NY Daily News recounts the occasion he told a crowd in Charlottesville, Vancouver, how we ‘should forget about our religious differences’ – causing similar confusion.
This time, Brown University clarified the situation, telling the Daily News: ‘The Dalai Lama’s last word of the day, verified by his personal translator, was “forget”.

© Daily Mail, London




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