17 February, 2011

A little help from my friends - the final episode (for now)

Okay, then, here is the last one. I really mean it! Yes, I know that I've been saying the same thing for the last few weeks, but really, this is it. Here's the last group of funny photos submitted to me from over a year ago. Then we can move on to posting the more recent ones :)


Nothing to it but to do it!


Here's a great sign from Dena, my ever-loyal sign scout:




That one reminds me of the way my kids occasionally speak. I remember once when they were much younger, and someone was in someone else's way, one of my kids said, annoyed, "You're making me not have any space!!" To which I thought - yeah, all those words technically make sense, but a native English speaker would just say, "You're squishing me!!" Likewise, yes, "merge" and "fit together" are pretty much the same thing. But - really? That's what you wanted to write, out here in front of everyone? Hmm. Anyway, thanks Dena!


Number two in today's lineup - from Ricky, my good friend and contributor:




Okay, the obvious mistake here also isn't such an obvious one to non-English speakers. We don't say trousers, we say pairs of trousers, right? But what I find to be much funnier here is that they claim to be the leading producers of laundry. I thought that they're supposed to produce the clean clothing, while we customers provide the laundry, no? I mean, are they going to charge us for unprecedented amounts of stained clothing? Interesting - maybe I should try making money like that...


Here are some menu bloopers sent to me by one of my very best virtual friends, Mirj:




Various typos, strange translations, misplaced apostrophes, random capitalization - what can I say? Velcome to Izrayel!


And here's a crazy one from Rachel, who presents us with this one. The product is a cool idea - twist ties on demand. But what the heck is going on with the packaging? (The picture is split into two halves, but you get the idea.)




Embroider? Prick? I feel like Inigo Montoya, from the Princess Bride, who said, in one of his very best lines, You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Oh, and look, continuing with the Inigo theme, here at the bottom we have a sword! The sword seems to be closest to its actual meaning - I mean, the place where one cuts the twist ties is sharp, like a sword, right? (Whereas I'm still not clear on what the embroider is referring to.) But here's another funny thing - presuming that embroider, prick and sword were exactly the words they were going for, apparently they didn't even know where the sword was supposed to go :) (Guys! It's to the left!)


Well, I think that's all, folks! Please join us again next week for your regular installment of funny signage mistakes, mostly seen here in Israel, the land I love. Have a great week, in the meantime! 


Oh, and don't forget to check out Lesley's meme, Signs, Signs, if you'd like to see more sign-oriented photography! Some of it is really interesting, and even beautiful - it's worth a visit!



8 comments:

Gemma Wiseman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gemma Wiseman said...

Another great collection! But I think the real fun ones are the typos! They leave weird messages!
(Would you believe, I made a typo the first time!)

Anonymous said...

Wow, when you say a collection of oldies, you mean it! That picture of the "meet" menu I sent? The restaurant has been closed for a while. Maybe people weren't ordering the good stuff because they couldn't understand what it was?

Francisca said...

Odd use of the English language (eg fit together) in non-English speaking countries is one thing (funny yet forgivable) -- I've seen and still see my fill of them in Asia (will also start to post some) -- but I don't think there's much excuse for it in a native English speaking country OR where English is an official language. And still... sigh...

Kim, USA said...

These makes me smile...different countries different interpretation but what ever it is just don't squish me!! Hehehehe!


Signs

Lesley said...

Inigo Montoyo, indeed!!
another fun collection.

Joey said...

I wish I'd taken a picture, but I once saw a sign saying "trucks combining from right" somewhere around Qiryat Ono. I suppose "fit together" is a bit more like "merge"...

toby said...

Thanks, everyone!
R - if you get a shot of it, I'll happily post it!