Engrish
Yesterday's post included a link to Engrish.com, which is a website where people can gather to make fun of all of the weird English you come across in Asian society. But we need to stop acting like Asians are the only ones that misuse English.
You know those blinking signs they put on the side of the highway to alert drivers to traffic accidents or construction? Today, on my way to work, there was a new one.
See, I drive along Interstate 495 to get to work. If you don't know about the beltway in Northern Virginia/D.C./Maryland...well, then you don't want to know. It's a crazy loop of frenzied speeding to get to your location.
I go to work early -- but today I was a little later than usual, so I was driving faster than normal.
But I still saw this sign.
It blinked:
SPEED LIMIT 55 MPH.
Then it blinked again:
STRICKLY ENFORCED.
No, that's not a typo.
Does that mean if I get caught speeding I'll get lambasted by a bunch of flax? Or will they put the slivers under my nails? And what, pray tell, is "hackled flax?"
Man, things are getting tough around here. I better slow down.
You know those blinking signs they put on the side of the highway to alert drivers to traffic accidents or construction? Today, on my way to work, there was a new one.
See, I drive along Interstate 495 to get to work. If you don't know about the beltway in Northern Virginia/D.C./Maryland...well, then you don't want to know. It's a crazy loop of frenzied speeding to get to your location.
I go to work early -- but today I was a little later than usual, so I was driving faster than normal.
But I still saw this sign.
It blinked:
Then it blinked again:
No, that's not a typo.
Does that mean if I get caught speeding I'll get lambasted by a bunch of flax? Or will they put the slivers under my nails? And what, pray tell, is "hackled flax?"
Man, things are getting tough around here. I better slow down.
You were poisoned by Curare_Z at 5:49 AM
15 Death Spasms:
You know whats even worse in road work activity 4 people watching and only one person working, but if spelling was their strong suit they wouldn't be in road construction.
Good point, Dan. If it's a matter of getting the sign right or getting the raod right, I'll choose the road.
Or should I say "rode?"
-- david
Ah...I know 495 quite well. I'm thankful I live in the part of Virginia I do; the closest Interstate is an hour away...
I've seen the same thing happen on closed caption before. You'd think that the ability to spell would be a pre-requisite to that job.
You can find a lot of Engrish in the toy section of the dollar store. My mom and I couldn't contain ourselves after spotting a Fireman action figure that said "TRY ME BUTTON!". What, was he some kind of a pirate, too?
Perhaps the man in charge of the flashing sign was hooked on phonicks.
That sign is going to actually CAUSE accidents. By the way, on Firefox, the gasmask guy takes up nearly half the screen. I had to switch over to Explorer to read your post here.
So true about how we need to focus on our own English language skills. I saw a sign in a deli yesterday speling their like "thier". Yikes.
BTW...I, too, had to switch to IE in order to properly read your blog.
When I lived in Okinawa, I saw a girl wearing a t-shirt that said "smash cunt"...I'm still confused...the guy with her wore a shirt that said "fuck inside"...
hm.
CD: True dat.
DA: You'd choose to be "rode" over "road" any day? :-)
Bruce: Nothing like screwing with deaf people to secure your place in hell. I removed the pics and you still had to switch to IE?! Weird. I'll have to look into it...
Debbie: I love those "try me" buttons. I push them all and then walk away swiftly to avoid being caught.
Siren: It werked 4 me!
Phoenix: Weirdo. Not you...the pic. I'll fix it. grumble grumble.
Egan: That's a common one, I think. But nothing annoys me like seeing bad spelling on a commercial sign like that.
Ally: I don't think that's Engrish. That's slutlish.
My mom's got a shirt from Japan that says "Sweet stuff full of beans" on it. I laugh out loud every time she wears it...it's become the running joke in our family!
You think "thier" is a common one? Huh. I know it gets used incorrectly with contractions and stuff, but thier is just plain wrong. Dyslexia.
I would suggest that you srow down.
Egan: Maybe I think its common because I misspell it all the time and spell check always picks it up!
Fuzz: HA HA HA HA. You made me laugh out loud.
So late, so late.
Favorite sign ever: "Acurs 4 sale"
(across the street from a high school).
Of course this was in Floriduh, don't ask such silly questions.
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