Sunday, May 16, 2010

Engrish.com

One interesting thing about living in a foreign country is the use or misuse rather of the English language. I understand that English isn't their first language. And I also appreciate that they are at least attempting to either market or acknowledge their foreign population. Either way, I am grateful for the little English that we do encounter. However, I have started a little project of misused English. Sometimes it is as simple as an oddly constructed sentence and other times, nothing about what was written makes the least amount of sense. At the very least, it provides Kyle and me with entertainment which is much appreciated. What is so entertaining about it is that all they need to do is ask a native English speaker before mass marketing and yet either lack of resources, initiative or plain Korean pride is to blame. Honestly if someone asked me to correct their advertisement as I was shopping in the mall, I would be more than happy to oblige without asking for funds in return. The Korean language and English language not only don't share an alphabet, but our sentences constructions are entirely disparate so I can understand where the massive screw ups happen, but really, the internet is widely used here. The dictionary is free. There are plenty of free resources and yet the most ridiculous mistakes are made. But like I said, they make me laugh so it is just fine for me. Enjoy!

We bought a mop recently while riding on the subway. You would be surprised what wonderful things you can purchase on the subway. I always have cash handy. Anyways, we saw this mop and as I complained a few posts back about our continuously wet floor, I thought it might be a good investment to purchase a mop. Not only was it great for cleaning our floors but it also doubled as a highly entertaining comedy sketch! Kyle is imitating the ecstatic house wife giving the thumbs up.


The house wife is happy so it must be good!
(At the top is says "Good Housewife" and "shaping your good life")

Nanometer fibre materials
Super powerful water absorbent
Virtue, wipe off dirts effectively!
Super -powerful electrostatic function
Can absorb all granular and silky things
Environment Protection, economic
fashionable and convenient!
(who knew a mop could be fashionable and convenient at the same time?)

Save labor very much

Cleaning magician
make it dry by a lock only



Never Remember, Hide and check!
( I still don't understand what I am not supposed to remember...)


A nut class


day and day happy
We make delicious bread with pleasant mind in the clean environment
( I sure hope you make it in a clean environment but what makes it a pleasant environment? Do you give your workers Valium?)


Your heart will beat with delight from it's perfect quality.
(except that my heart did not jump or beat with delight as this was the worst tasting cheap wine I have ever tasted in my life)

I saved the best for last. This "free girl" as the Korean students refer to her is on our English Village campus. Check out her tablet. "Jury IV." And no that word is not supposed to be jury as in a court case. It is supposed to say July IV. Oopsie daisy! We mixed up our "r's" and "L's" and no one bothered to double check before printing.

(This is a website that collects misused English from all over the world if you find what we have posted funny and just can't get enough!)
http://www.engrish.com/

3 comments:

Jane said...

I love these!! The last one *killed* me.

Warren Baldwin said...

These were hilarious! I got a kick out of the fashionable line, too. I've used a lot of mops and never found any of them fashionable!

If you have visited family fountain lately you can see I have been doing a series of brief guest posts on favorite marriage books. I'd like to invite you to submit one to run in a week or two.

wb

Miss Footloose said...

Great stuff! I'm glad you enjoy it and have fun with it. In my traveling life I've also come across lots of fun stuff like that and I think it is just fine to have a good laugh.

In Armenia we could buy cleaning products with the brandname BARF. In Ghana a bar in our neighborhood was called PUKY BAR.

When you live overseas there are always surprises; it's a wonderful world no matter what they tell you on TV!