Thursday, September 18, 2008
Down Germs
Monday, September 8, 2008
Going well!
Thanks very much to everyone who's been posting on this blog. Although I haven't responded to all your entries, I have been checking in most days to read what you've written, and I've really enjoyed all the observations that you've been making. Do keep it going!
R Tang.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
english in china. hmms..
"kills the insect" water. so, "kills the insect" is describing the water. Supposedly this should be an adjective phrase? not quite.. (what's that actually haha)
I'm just wondering if "the" as the determiner is used excessively and wrongly over and over again.. THE FURNITURE NURSES THE THING! what thing is there to nurse? the "sick" and peeling leather of the sofa? hahaha, maybe its diagnosed with skin disease!
okay enough of the atrocities. i can't take it anymore!
will post more next time! :)
-Kee Pin.
Friday, September 5, 2008
I got this picture from www.engrish.com and it sounded strange... In mandarin (if i'm not wrong, because my Mother Tongue is very bad), it means "Please beware of falling over the fence", how would the action of me turning over (which I assume means to face another direction) cause me to fall off the fence if I'm not even touching?
There is dark magic going around if you 'turn over'!!!
*Adeline*
Thursday, September 4, 2008
After looking at this sign, there are two different interpretation that strikes me.
1) smile = verb
your = you're = you (pronoun) are (verb) *perhaps a typo error here??? haha*
on = preposition
camera = noun
do you see the sign as "Smile, your (you are) on the camera"
2) smile = verb
your =possesive determiner
on = verb
camera = noun
now do u see it as smile at your on camera (a camera that is switched on)??
Please correct me if I am wrong:)
ceeteing
Too short I must say, haha.
Well, nothing much from me but just some funny signs I came across as I was reading my emails. Enjoy :)
Here is one posted at the back door of a pizza shop in Niagara Falls.
I am very sure that the sign had meant to read ' You are under camera surveillance'
Here is another similar grammatical error made.
This was written by residents of North Carolina, asking Hurricane Isabel to stop coming.
What I found weird about this is, hurricanes cannot read!
Sarcasm... on post :)
Definitely an revolutionary way of warning someone about the dangers of drink driving! And by the way, this post is found in the overseas. By looking at this post, we can see that the use of: firstly, language and secondly, symbols and signs can co-create sarcasm that might just well effectively deliver the message of doom to would-be drunk drivers.
Cheers,
Gary CHEW
Quirky Photos
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Funny Chinese Signs
It reads, "please don't litter up" So that means we can litter "down"? I feel that signs in China are really funny because they always translate them into English directly from the way they are being phrased in Chinese. Just some thoughts...
Cheers,
Michelle =)
swimming pool
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Ambigous UK newspaper headlines!
Alright, let me share TWO hilarious newspaper headlines which I have taken from this website:
http://www.justchat.co.uk/boards/viewtopic.php?p=587476
The first ONE that struck me most: Miners Refuse to Work after Death
My explanation: After their death or in other words when they are dead, surely their previous employers cannot expect them to resurrect and work again right?!
Hilarious number TWO: New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Alright, fine. Some of you might not have gotten this one- it's alright I'd explain. Look closely at the word 'LARGER' in the above headline and consider the fact that obesity is being mentioned here. Obviously, the word 'LARGER' does refer to the number of people who are sought after to take the test and NOT the physical dimensions of each individual who is doing the test.
Please be kind to me-my explanation may really be very bad but.. you got it right?
Cheers!
Gary Chew
Scary food!
I ate some really great food in Shanghai. (: HOWEVER...
Daniang Shuijiao serves really good dumplings but as you can see, I think they are aiming for world domination. I don't quite know how to rephrase their slogan.
Cream Mushroom soup ---> Cream of Mushroom soup?
I still don't quite get the next dish (I did NOT order it.)
My interpretations:
1) the 'wild germs' hate soup with crispy skin. (yay! to prevent 'wild germs' from getting us, we shall all drink soup with crisp skin!)
2) the wild 'germ hates soup' (assuming hates is a kind of food?) with crisp skin. (wild soup?!)
3) 'wild germ hates soup' with crispy skin. ( soup with crispy skin? soup has skin?!!)
By the way, is hates a kind of food? Do we eat germs? Soup has skin? Wild germs drink soup? Wild germs exist?
I'm seriously puzzled.
Please correct me if I'm wrong!(:
A glaring spelling error
Grammar in China
We all know that China is infamous for their English. During a study trip there years ago, I noticed there were many signs with ungrammatical English on the roads and even in hotels. It was a pity I didn't take any of the pictures back then. Anyway I found this particular sign on the Internet that caught my attention.
Lets analyze the sentence. Speaking (v) cellphone (n) is (v) strictly (adv) prohibited (v) when (conj) thunderstorm (n).
What that means is that if there is a thunderstorm, you are strictly not allowed to say the word cellphone.
I assume what the authorities meant was "Talking on the cellphone is strictly prohibited in the event of a thunderstorm.
Explosive dogs?
I found this on a website that was looking for funny signs in the UK. The above example is very similar to the hedgehog question in our tutorial.
1)The first interpretation would be the notion that very volatile search dogs are at work. (My, I think that's kind of macabre)
NP: Search dogs
Premodifier: Explosive
2)The second interpretation would be that the search dogs are working on something explosive.In that case, I think they ought to include an exclamation mark after 'explosive', so that people will not think that it's a premodifier of the NP "search dogs".
NO pls! dun hurt my mom!
So what do you see? "Happy Birthday aunt flash mom" or "Happy Birthday aunt slash mom"? In any case neither of them sounds right. lols.
- "Happy Birthday aunt flash mom"
The word 'flash' in this context can take a meaning:
(informal)
1) As a verb, to expose oneself in an indecent manner
2) As an adjective, ostentatious or showy; attracting attention by being large or expensive eg. a flash car/he is very flash, isn't he? - "Happy Birthday aunt slash mom"
The word 'slash' in this context can take a meaning:
1) As a verb, to cut with a violent sweeping stroke or by striking violently and at random, as with a knife or sword.
(informal)
2) As a conjunction, as well as; and. Used in combination and often rendered as a virgule in print: an actor-slash-writer; a waiter/dancer.
Anyways, I'll end off with what the original blogger has said regarding this picture:
"Although I suppose if Aunt flashed Mom that would liven up the party, and it's certainly preferable to Aunt slashing Mom."
- Cake Wrecks
I hope I am actually sharing accurate information here. *smiles*
Definitions quoted from:
dictionary.com and Oxford Advanced Learners' dictionary
Picture from: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
(a blogger that blogs about cake wrecks - where professional cakes go horribly wrong, hilariously wrong)
Monday, September 1, 2008
1 Funny Avatar
Anyway, the phrase here has two meanings...
1) One which means literally subscription to a magazine and how the subscriber finds the magazine issues boring,
and the other
2) How person A wants to severe ties with person B because A is sick of the constant problems/ whining person B weighs A down with.
Hence, I think that "subscription" and "issues" are homonyms... (I'm not too sure, can someone enlighten me please?)
Anyway, I'm sure we all know straight away that it's the 2nd option :)
-Bernice
One Word, Many Word Classes
In the comic above, the word "down" is used as an adjective, which is used to describe a specialized machine that is not working.
The adjective "down" has another meaning as well. For example, "She has been feeling down since her husand died."
"Down" can be used as a preposition (Who put my Fendi Baguette down there?) (We drove down Haji Lane), verb (He downed two jugs of bourbon coke by himself) or even an adverb (Have you written it down?) (My father has paid the down payment for the new Mercedes C-Class).
'Phrase Teaser'
Hi all!
I just want to share with you a quote that many companies use to market their products.
Have you realized that most advertisements say that the new product is "new and improved"? Has it occurred to you that if something is new, then there has never been anything before it. If it is an improvement, then there must be something before it and therefore, it cannot be new.
What do you guys think?
Love,
Edwin C