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May 23, 2013, 10:50pm

Any Port in a Storm :: On the Plaza :: Where Words Collide :: Mangled English around the world

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Topic: Mangled English around the world (Read 662 times)

palesa
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Mangled English around the world
« Thread Started on Feb 17, 2009, 11:26am »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-....ish-world.htm l

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"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."
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casimira
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #1 on Feb 17, 2009, 11:48am »

Those were hilarious P., I may have to borrow "Today is under Construction" from time to time,speaks volumes.

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kerouac2
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #2 on Feb 17, 2009, 11:51am »

When I travel, I am addicted to reading all of the labels and signs and menu translations, because they're always good for fun.

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casimira
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #3 on Feb 17, 2009, 11:54am »

Sadly, I don't have to travel far.

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palesa
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #4 on Feb 17, 2009, 12:19pm »

These tickled me, no end, and I do feel like most of my days are under construction, but also feel like I could hang from the balcony on some days!

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"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."
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mockchoc
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #5 on Feb 19, 2009, 8:41am »

That was funny, passed it on to a friend I know will like it.

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spindrift
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #6 on Feb 19, 2009, 3:41pm »

By chance I looked at the Mail Online yesterday and saw that. It is very funny

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tempus fugit

gringalais
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #7 on Feb 19, 2009, 3:55pm »

I saw an amusing one on a menu recently. The menu had 2 types of pisco sours, Chilean style and Peruvian style. The Chilean type is made in a cocktail shaker while the Peruvian type is made in a blender. The description however was a battered pisco, sugar and lemon juice.

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kerouac2
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #8 on Feb 22, 2009, 7:51am »

I was in a Turkish restaurant last night and on the menu, a salad that contained artichoke hearts (coeurs d'artichauts) somehow became in the English translation a very mysterious item called "artichoke corn."

« Last Edit: Feb 22, 2009, 2:48pm by kerouac2 »

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BigIain
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #9 on Feb 22, 2009, 9:05am »

excellent!! Always a subject guaranteed to make le laugh. I used to have to recruit people to work in call centres in the Phillipines. The interview was always done by phone and every now and then the conversation would degenerate with a simple slip pf translation as seen in some of those signs.

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rikita
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #10 on Feb 22, 2009, 10:52pm »

http://engrishfunny.com/

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BigIain
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #11 on Feb 22, 2009, 11:11pm »

fantastic again, thanks for those Rikita

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Paddle faster, I hear banjos!

bixaorellana
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #12 on Feb 23, 2009, 4:02pm »

This: http://www.engrish.com/category/vending-machines/ is probably the best known site, although not the funniest. The vending machines are pretty amusing, though.

I'd laugh harder at all this stuff if I didn't suspect that sometimes I sound like these examples when I speak Spanish.

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gringalais
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #13 on May 15, 2009, 3:31pm »

I just saw a sign here the other day where someone was offering their services as a baby sister. People think it is cool to work in English words sometimes, so saying baby sitter has become popular, the problem is about half of them get confused and say baby sister instead.

And then there was some woman on the news the other night talking about a concert that took place here. She wanted to show off, I guess, so she kept using the word performance, or at least trying to. Her pronounciation was so off, if it weren't for the context I doubt I would have understood what she was trying to say.

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casimira
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #14 on May 15, 2009, 4:41pm »

This past Sunday,Mother's Day at a performance by local legendary singer Irma Thomas,the woman who introduced her was a New Orleans City Council member.
She said:" And now I have the great pleasure of introducing to you,the one ,the only,the incomprehensible Irma Thomas."

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lagatta
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #15 on May 15, 2009, 5:12pm »

Not only non-English speakers and uneducated people mangle English (and other languages).

To wit the following exchange between former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (fluent in both English and French from childhood, as his family is Irish-Canadian and he grew up in a Québec town where few people spoke English) and the counsel of a commission questioning him about dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. Both of these men were educated as lawyers.

"After two days of questioning by his own lawyer, Guy Pratte, lead commission counsel Richard Wolson began grilling Mulroney Thursday.

Wolson questioned Mulroney about the sworn testimony he gave during the discovery process of his lawsuit in 1996 against the federal government over the Airbus affair.

He suggested Mulroney wasn't being completely open when describing the relationship he had with Schreiber because he didn't mention the commercial arrangement he had struck with Schreiber.

"You're not quite fulsome in your response," Wolson said.

"I am fulsome and truthful," Mulroney said". (CBC news story).

« Last Edit: May 15, 2009, 5:17pm by lagatta »

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bixaorellana
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #16 on Jul 8, 2012, 7:56am »

Charlie deserves credit for finding these jewels. We were leaving a store & she suddenly said, "Let us go!" I thought she must be really tired of the store. Then she snickered & said, "Who do they have in there?" & I thought she'd slipped a cog. But no, it was this:

[image]

Studly!
[image]

My favorite:
[image]

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kerouac2
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #17 on Jul 8, 2012, 10:50am »

And here we thought the Chinese were improving in English.

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patricklondon
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Re: Mangled English around the world
« Reply #18 on Jul 12, 2012, 6:50am »

I was given a book of these for a Christmas present:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/signlanguage/
and this also resides in my loo:
http://www.lostintranslationbook.com/

A favourite of my own finding is:
http://www.patrickwallace.me.uk/images/signs/ms24.jpg
(it's a pet shop in Montreal, but please feel free to apply it to the headquarters of any organisation of your choice).

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