Signs for Better, Signs for Worse... with sheer lunacy in between
We all hope that New Year will bring us good tidings - as we routinely look around for signs to either confirm or dampen our hopes.
Most of the signs around us are uniformly boring, but then a gem comes along: spawned by the burst of local idiocy, or perhaps, by the glimmer of unintentional brilliance!
The Russian's are the best sign creators, bar none
Making the Bourne Identity Matt Damon's character hopelessly confused, this signage would play the hand of those intent on capturing him.
"Place Your Ad Here!" -
When confronted with the shop that sells both "Meat" and "Fish", they draw a fish-cow creature to illustrate the concept:
"Look at this man! he should be ASHAMED! he got drunk and broke the sapling tree that a little boy planted!..." -
"You reap what you sow: Your girl plants the seeds, breaks her back digging the ground, and provides vegetables for your table - and YOU, what are you doing in the meantime??" - (this made me so guilty, that I couldn't eat vegetables for a week. Oh well.)
"Welcome to Orenburg!" (A good time was had by all!) -
A label for the very useful enhancement to your car:
A Godzilla's Egg:
And finally, a great example of "Engrish", or rather of the interesting clash of cultures... A helpful translation list in Bejing - of (nasty) things English speakers might say to the vendors:
"Dark Roasted Blend" - All Kinds of Weird and Wonderful Things, Discovered Daily!"
DRB is a top-ranked and respected source for the best in art, travel and fascinating technology, with a highly visual presentation. Our in-depth articles in many categories make DRB a highly visual online magazine, bringing you quality entertainment every time you open your "feed" reader or visit our site - About DRB
The elevator "up for going up, down for going down" sign kinda makes sense. I've seen a lot of people pressing the "up" button thinking it means "elevator, come up" (when they are in, e.g., in the 4th floor, the elevator is in the 1st but they want go to 1st.)
About the last one on "Engrish".. .. it is a list which vendors should NOT say to customers. The first three Chinese characters mean "prohibited sentences".
The Russian movie posters. Top left is Freaky Friday w/ Lindsay Lowhan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Bottom right is Shallow Hal w/ Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black.
The Russian poster with the vegetables, actually says that the girl provides HERSELF with vegetables for the entire year. So there's nothing to feel bad about there :)
the miner water ad, that with vegetation growing on the poster, is an advertisment of ACQUA CAPANNELLE, a famous italian mineral water, that poster was in Rome, some years ago! I've seen it live!
The trunk sign is actually labelling the pull-grip of an internal latch release, so that someone who has been locked in the trunk can open the trunk and escape.
I took this picture 2 1/2 years ago (indeed at the Istanbul Int'l Airport) and it's been a mystery to me ever since, UNTIL the photo was posted on this blog!
I've been informed on the photo's page what's really going on:
There isn't anything wrong with the sign. Pressing the button once flushes, pressing again stops the flushing prematurely if less than the maximum amount of water is needed.
Great stuff! That church (god's milk carton) is actually down the street from my house and they are very clever with their sign. I'll have to keep an eye out for some to send you.
Hey cool to see that busted stock reading machine in wellington posted I picked myself a pic of that aswell now any wellington folks seen that "poon fah assn nz" sign?
I saw that last sign in Beijing when I was there. It's not a list of what people might say to the vendors but rather a list of things the vendors should not say to the shoppers.
|
19 Comments:
The elevator "up for going up, down for going down" sign kinda makes sense. I've seen a lot of people pressing the "up" button thinking it means "elevator, come up" (when they are in, e.g., in the 4th floor, the elevator is in the 1st but they want go to 1st.)
About the last one on "Engrish".. ..
it is a list which vendors should NOT say to customers.
The first three Chinese characters mean "prohibited sentences".
The Russian movie posters. Top left is Freaky Friday w/ Lindsay Lowhan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Bottom right is Shallow Hal w/ Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black.
Anyone else notice that the sign for where Valley View Rd crosses Valley View Rd also points to a winery? Mystery solved!
The "prayer phone booth" photos are of an art project in the NYC parks by Kansas City artist Dylan Mortimer. You can find the images on his site.
http://www.dylanmortimer.com/public.html
These are brilliant! Thanks for the laugh (and the photo cred of course)!
nr
The Russian poster with the vegetables, actually says that the girl provides HERSELF with vegetables for the entire year.
So there's nothing to feel bad about there :)
For the sign of the trunk of the car; it looks like the trunk is shooting arrows at you, and you have to run away.
AHAHAHA! A sign from Singapore's MRT(Mass Rapid Transport) ie our subway system. No durians.
the miner water ad, that with vegetation growing on the poster, is an advertisment of ACQUA CAPANNELLE, a famous italian mineral water, that poster was in Rome, some years ago! I've seen it live!
The trunk sign is actually labelling the pull-grip of an internal latch release, so that someone who has been locked in the trunk can open the trunk and escape.
The sign about pushing the button twice to save water:
I know Turkish and have seen that sign in person last summer and the translation is no mistake. It really does say to flush twice to save water.
Whether it is a mistake on the signmaker's end or something to do with the plumbing at the airport (where this sign is found), I don't know.
@Tolga K:
I took this picture 2 1/2 years ago (indeed at the Istanbul Int'l Airport) and it's been a mystery to me ever since, UNTIL the photo was posted on this blog!
I've been informed on the photo's page what's really going on:
There isn't anything wrong with the sign. Pressing the button once flushes, pressing again stops the flushing prematurely if less than the maximum amount of water is needed.
Neat huh?!
@Tolga K.
First you push to flush, than you can push a second time if you want to interupt the flush cycle (if its clean enough). not that hard.
@K!P
That's what I expected to happen when I flushed the second time, only it didn't happen. I'm guessing I used a faulty one.
Great stuff! That church (god's milk carton) is actually down the street from my house and they are very clever with their sign. I'll have to keep an eye out for some to send you.
Hey cool to see that busted stock reading machine in wellington posted I picked myself a pic of that aswell now any wellington folks seen that "poon fah assn nz" sign?
i don't think i've ever been in the mood for "cowfish".
I saw that last sign in Beijing when I was there. It's not a list of what people might say to the vendors but rather a list of things the vendors should not say to the shoppers.
Post a Comment
<< Home