language hazards... like a water hazard

[branchandroot]

I want this book: Here Speeching American: A Very Strange Guide to English as It Is Garbled around the World

And you thought Engrish was bad. Examples given in the blurb:

On a Mexican bus: Keep all fours in the bus--eyes only out window

At a hotel in Vietnam: Compulsory Buffet Breakfast

At a temple in Burma: Foot Wearing Prohibited

In a Barcelona travel-agency window: Go Away

At a hotel swimming pool in France: Swimming is forbidden in the absence of the savior


That last one made me laugh until I cried.

And the moral of the story: never, ever use fangirl Japanese, because this is probably what you'd sound like to them.

Comments

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

Fodor's, a publisher of travel books, once distributed promotional buttons that said 'GO AWAY' in a rather large font and had further promo type stuff in a notably smaller one. Oh, how I wished I had and could wear one at this one job I had (where I worked in the book department of a general entertainment chain). It would even have gone with my damn red uniform polo shirt.