Thursday, January 06, 2011

Funny English #4

Our episodes of Funny English are not for the sole purpose of ridiculing other people's mistaken applications of ASCII characters. Nor are they here to further inflate our own ego by gloating at our language mastery, while others proverbially flail.

They're posted simply because of their remarkable ability to amuse.

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If you attempt to translate the written Korean on this sign into English using Babelfish, it says "Goes to the soccer field route."

Smells like an updated algorithm.

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Listed on this menu is the popular Korean pasta known as 'Meat Sauce Spaghetti.' Sound appetising? Back when I was an English teacher, one of my ice-breaker queries to the students was to ask about everyone's favourite food. More than one bifocaled, gap-toothed student declared to me "Tee-chaa! My favourite food... is... meat!"

But the more obvious offender in the photo above is the word Eatables. It reminds me of my Dad's repeated explanations of the meaning of the word 'Delicatessen' when we were young.

It means 'Delicate Eating.'

My Dad used to enjoy repetitively explaining it so many times that it has burned itself into my subconscious. If I'm ever to awake from a coma, I'm sure the first words I'll murmur will be 'Delicate..... eating....'

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Whether or not you find this sign humourous depends on whether you've lived in Korea long enough.

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From our good friends at Kwangdong Pharmaceuticals comes the Placenta Essence Mask.

Perplexing.

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Please, English check before print the menu.
(It might cause the funny problem).

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I've thought long and hard about the name of this shop in Uijeongbu.
Many times.

And I'm still stumped.

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Fortunately the same mistake here was not repeated for the College of English Studies.

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We are learn techology because we got edumcation from da skool.

This photo may or may not be from an 'eminent educational institution' here in Seoul.

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Item number 7-12 here is distinct from 7-13 only in that it has a light hint of rotten taste. There are also pleasant aromas of abhorrant reflex.

This wasn't really a Konglish moment though, because it's from the updated menu at the Vietnamese Dieu Hien Quan in Ansan.

It's Vinglish, I think.

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We snapped this beauty near the SNU subway station. Some of us were born to be wild. A lucky few were born to be king. 

And then there's the remainder...

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And to cap off this episode of delightful applications of the English language, is the most ambitiously labeled paper cup in the Asia-Pacific region.

If I knew where they sold these, I'd buy myself a lifetime's supply.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to Ottawa for a month of research. I'll post an update after the jump.

For past episodes of Funny English that you may have missed, they're right here: #1, #2, #3.

Enjoy!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great collection! But the placenta thing is not just in Korea. In the U.S. (and I would assume other English speaking countries too-- though I've never checked) you can buy placenta shampoos and conditioners. Creepy

Unknown said...

This is excellent! Haha! This was just like listening to my good old mom and dad trying to speak english.. except in pictures. Have a great weekend! I just stumbled across this blog and it's great. Thx for the laughs this A.M.

Surprises Aplenty said...

I have often heard people add an extra syllable, "ma" into long words. I think it was to ironically highlight the use of the large word; a sort of "Look at me, I'm clever."
"Edumacation" is something you might hear from a Canadian. I have heard such words so often that I am not surprised to hear them but a South African coworker was. Do they do this in Australia?
"Hanker-ma-chief"
"refriger-ma-rator"
...

Lee Farrand said...

Hi surprises. Not that I'm aware of.
Now that I'm in Canada, I'll be alert to such frivolity.

한은설 said...

It reminded me about my students. :) cute and funny. :D