English by any other name...
May. 28th, 2006 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trystinnShoping at local Asian markets is almost always an adventure. And the employees definately get a kick out of me desperately looking for Squid Jerky every payday, I'm never quite sure how to ask for it, given that the packaging is rarely in English. But that's on me, I don't speak any Asian languages, much less read them. Sometimes I get my Jerky and leave in peace, other times I wander for hours looking at the Buddhas, the incenses, and wondering anew what on Earth folks do with some of the stuff sold there. MSG in a shaker bottle, who knew? The condom packaging is hysterical. I still haven't quite figured out the cosmetics counter, possibly because I so rarely wear make-up its foreign to me anyway.
Often quite a bit of the fun is trying to figure out the signage, especially when the signs direct customers to do something. These signs are often not quite in English, but instead a variant known humorously as Engrish. Folks poke a lot of fun at these signs, but honestly, I find them quite heart-warming. Folks trying to communicate, making the effort to reach out. I'm brutally aware that their Engrish is a hell of a lot better than any attempt I could make in any of their languages, so I have a lot of respect for these folks.
My favorite example of this at the market in Bellevue was the "Open the UP!" signs posted on top of the frozen meat counters. I should say, one of my favorites, since a ditzy friend pointed it out to them and they quickly corrected it.
In any case, there's a site on the web that collects these little gems - www.Engrish.com Sadly, "Open the UP!" never made it there.
Often quite a bit of the fun is trying to figure out the signage, especially when the signs direct customers to do something. These signs are often not quite in English, but instead a variant known humorously as Engrish. Folks poke a lot of fun at these signs, but honestly, I find them quite heart-warming. Folks trying to communicate, making the effort to reach out. I'm brutally aware that their Engrish is a hell of a lot better than any attempt I could make in any of their languages, so I have a lot of respect for these folks.
My favorite example of this at the market in Bellevue was the "Open the UP!" signs posted on top of the frozen meat counters. I should say, one of my favorites, since a ditzy friend pointed it out to them and they quickly corrected it.
In any case, there's a site on the web that collects these little gems - www.Engrish.com Sadly, "Open the UP!" never made it there.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 06:43 pm (UTC)But damn, the inuendo in English is fabulous!
no subject
Date: 2006-06-01 05:09 pm (UTC)This is precisely why I still remember it some 20 years later! Oh how I wish I'd kept that bit of cardboard . . .