Week 11 Journal Entries

[ben.n...@gmail.com]

These signs written in English have some issues either grammatically
or logically for native speakers of English. Some are funny while
others may simply just be inappropriate or offensive. Choose any six
and explain what you think may be wrong with them. Try to correct them
as best you can.

1) (on the menu of a Swiss restaurant) "Our wines leave you nothing to
hope for."

2) (In a Zurich hotel) "Because of the impropriety of entertaining
guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the
lobby be used for this purpose."

3) (In a Rome laundry) "Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the
afternoon having a good time."

4) (In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency) "Take one of our horse-driven
city tours- we guarantee no miscarriages."

5) (In a Japanese hotel) "You are invited to take advantage of the
chambermaid."

6) (In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox
monastery) "You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian
and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except for
Thursday."

7) (In a Leipzig elevator) "Do not enter the lift backwards, and only
when lit up."

8) (In a Paris hotel elevator) "Please leave your values at the front
desk."

9) (Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand) "Would you like to
ride on your own ass?

10) (In a Bangkok temple): "It is forbidden to enter a woman even a
foreigner if dressed as a man."

11) (In a Tokyo bar) "Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts."

12) (In the office of a Roman doctor) "Specialist in women and other
diseases."

13) (In an Acapulco hotel) "The manager has personally passed all the
water served here."

[izard...@hanmail.net]

1) (on the menu of a Swiss restaurant) "Our wines leave you nothing
to
hope for."

 Something sounds like poisoning someone to death…just my own
opinion~
“Our wines will be the best you've ever had.”

3) (In a Rome laundry) "Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the
afternoon having a good time."

It sounds like asking the ladies to have a good time anywhere naked.
“Ladies, just leave those boring dirty clothes to us and enjoy your
own sunny afternoon!”

4) (In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency) "Take one of our horse-
driven
city tours- we guarantee no miscarriages."

 It doesn’t sound trustworthy, and even a little bit dangerous.
“Have your marvelous experience of horse-driven featured city tours
right now, and we guarantee every safety and wonderfulness.”

5) (In a Japanese hotel) "You are invited to take advantage of the
chambermaid."

 It sounds a little bit porn (I don’t know if the word is
appropriate :) for me~
“Our employee will be ready to try their best to serve you at any
time.”

8) (In a Paris hotel elevator) "Please leave your values at the front
desk."

 It sounds like that you are quite a robber and I feel compelled.
“For the sake of your property safety, please by yourself take care of
the valuables or leave them at the front desk.”

9) (Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand) "Would you like to
ride on your own ass?

 Funny and something like abusing.
“Why not enjoy having a ride on one of these lovely donkeys?”

11) (In a Tokyo bar) "Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts."

 It seems grammatically wrong.
“Special cocktails with nuts for the ladies.”

12) (In the office of a Roman doctor) "Specialist in women and other
diseases."

 “Specialist in diseases of women and other kinds of diseases.”

Ben~~I think it is a little bit difficult for a non-navtive speaker to
explain and correct them all accurate, so I am looking forward to your
corrections~~Thank you ~

[날아라]

3) (In a Rome laundry) "Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the
afternoon having a good time."

--- " Ladies, leave your laundries and spend the afternoon having a
good time."
Ladies, leave your clothes (sounds like "Ladies take off your clothes"
so I think the word should change to laundries)

8) (In a Paris hotel elevator) "Please leave your values at the front
desk."

--- " Please leave your valuables at the front dest."
usually expensive things are we call valuables

9) (Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand) "Would you like to
ride on your own ass?

--- " Would you like to ride on your own donkey?"
ass mean is donkey but also another mean is bottom in slang

10) (In a Bangkok temple): "It is forbidden to enter a woman even a
foreigner if dressed as a man."

--- It is forbidden for women to enter even if a foreign woman is
dressed as a man."
I don't know how to exprain this sentence.

11) (In a Tokyo bar) "Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts."

--- Special cocktail with nuts for the ladies."
' for the ladies ' it should go to end of sentence

13) (In an Acapulco hotel) "The manager has personally passed all the
water served here."

--- " The manager has personally approved all the water served here."
I think ' passed ' this word is weird. I don't know ,why they used
this word . ' if passed change to approved, it's better.

[nars...@hotmail.com]

1) (on the menu of a Swiss restaurant) "Our wines leave you nothing
to
hope for."

- Their wine is so great that their guests wouldn't hope anything
better

3) (In a Rome laundry) "Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the
afternoon having a good time."

- Please leave your clothes here and have a good time

4) (In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency) "Take one of our horse-
driven
city tours- we guarantee no miscarriages."

- Take a city tour with horse back riding

5) (In a Japanese hotel) "You are invited to take advantage of the
chambermaid."

- Chambermaid finished their job

6) (In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox
monastery) "You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous
Russian
and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except
for
Thursday."

- not openning on thursday

7) (In a Leipzig elevator) "Do not enter the lift backwards, and only
when lit up."

- Please enter when the light is on

8) (In a Paris hotel elevator) "Please leave your values at the front
desk."

- Please keep your valuable items at the front desk

9) (Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand) "Would you like to
ride on your own ass?

- You can ride donkeys. would you like to try?

10) (In a Bangkok temple): "It is forbidden to enter a woman even a
foreigner if dressed as a man."

- Women are prohibited from entering

11) (In a Tokyo bar) "Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts."

- Special cocktails with nuts for the ladies

12) (In the office of a Roman doctor) "Specialist in women and other
diseases."

- gynecologist and others


too hard... it was fun, though.
Thanks Ben

[ben.n...@gmail.com]

These signs written in English have some issues either grammatically
or logically for native speakers of English. Some are funny while
others may simply just be inappropriate or offensive. Choose any six
and explain what you think may be wrong with them. Try to correct
them
as best you can.

1) (on the menu of a Swiss restaurant) "Our wines leave you nothing
tohope for."

When I read this, I think that after I drink their wine, I will have
nothing in my life to look forward to. Especially in American culture
where we pay close attention to people's drinking problems, this sign
is humorous. A better way to say this would be, "Our wines leave
nothing to be desired." In this case, the word 'desire' is more
appropriate than the word, 'hope.'

2) (In a Zurich hotel) "Because of the impropriety of entertaining
guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the
lobby be used for this purpose."

This is funny because 'impropriety' is not a word first of all.
Secondly, the sign sounds like it is encouraging people to have sexual
encounters in the lobby, instead of the bedroom. A better way of
saying this is to keep it simple. "Guests are not allowed in your
room. If you are entertaining a guest, please do so in the lobby.
Thank you."

3) (In a Rome laundry) "Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the
afternoon having a good time."

Another somewhat perverted thought comes to mind after reading this
sign since leaving your clothes here and spending the afternoon
"having a good time" certainly has a somewhat sexual connotation to
it. A better way to express this would be to simply say, "Women's
clothes only. Morning drop-off. Evening pickup." Of course saying it
my way certainly isn't as fun! :)

4) (In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency) "Take one of our horse-
driven city tours- we guarantee no miscarriages."

This one is really funny because of the word 'miscarriage' being
misused. A miscarriage is when a pregnant mother gives birth to a
dead baby, or worse; the mother dies herself during labor. It's a
very serious matter but it is funny because it is being used
incorrectly. A better way to say this would be, "...we guarantee no
bad carriages."

5) (In a Japanese hotel) "You are invited to take advantage of the
chambermaid."

Once again, this is somewhat perverted in meaning. Am I really that
perverted? NO! It's not just me that thinks these are funny. Actually
this type of language is more than just funny. It could also be
offensive to women because sometimes women are taken advantage of and
it is a very serious thing. In this case taking advantage of the
chambermaid sounds quite inviting to actually have some sort of sexual
relationship. The person who wrote this was trying to say, " Please
contact the chambermaid if you have any problems with your room."

6) (In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox
monastery) "You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous

Russianand Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily
except for Thursday."
This one is grammatically wrong because it sounds as though Russian
and Soviet composers artists and writers are buried everyday of the
week except for Thursdays. This sign should read "Fee free to visit
the cemetery daily except Thursdays. Many famous Russian and Soviet
composers artists and writers lie at rest there."

7) (In a Leipzig elevator) "Do not enter the lift backwards, and
only when lit up."

The term, "lit up" means drunk or high on some sort of drug so this
one is funny for obvious reasons. The sign directs the passengers to
only enter the lift when moving forward and when drunk or high. A
better way to say this would be, "Do not enter the lift backwards or
when the lights are off." I am guessing that this elevator was a very
old one and so probably wasn't always operable.

8) (In a Paris hotel elevator) "Please leave your values at the front
desk."

This is funny because 'values' was misused instead of the word
'valuables.' These words have similar spellings and sometimes similar
meanings but very different meanings in this context. In English we
have an expression, "Leave your values at the front door." This means
when you come in, just have fun, sin, enjoy yourself and don't worry
about anything. So, to say, "leave your values at the front desk"
sounds very similar. A value is something that is good, so to leave it
at the front desk, is basically telling someone they can be as bad as
they want, while staying at your hotel! Obviously, this is NOT the
image you want for your hotel! :)

9) (Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand) "Would you like to
ride on your own ass?

This is hilarious! An 'ass' is in fact the correct meaning for
donkey. However, in this context, it sounds very funny. You've
probably heard the word 'ass' to mean butt or in Korean 'ungdungy.'
To ride your own buttocks is a very funny expression and in this case,
"Would you like to ride your own donkey?" simply sounds much better.

10) (In a Bangkok temple): "It is forbidden to enter a woman even a
foreigner if dressed as a man."

This one is especially interesting to me because of the fact that it
was written at a temple, a sacred place and holy place, one of
worship, one of God. The person who wrote this obviously had good
intentions,albeit extremely sexist views on women. What he/she was
trying to say was, "It is forbidden for women to enter." Just leave
it at that. I can understand why this person added, "even a foreigner
if dressed as a man," but this sounds very strange is is better just
left out. What this sounds like to a native English speaker is that
it is forbidden to have sex with a woman, even if she is a foreigner
dressed like a man." This is surely not what one expects to read when
they go to a holy temple for worship! :)

11) (In a Tokyo bar) "Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts."

This is a case of bad grammar to be sure! It should read, "Everyday
Ladies Special: walnut cocktail." or maybe "Weekly Ladies Special:
Almond cocktail." To say, "Special cocktails for the ladies with
nuts." makes native speakers laugh because it sounds like there is a
special cocktail for ladies with testicles. This could very well be
possible, depending on where you go, but it may NOT be the image your
bar is trying to project so it IS worth the time to make sure your
grammar and word choice sound right! :)

12) (In the office of a Roman doctor) "Specialist in women and other
diseases."

I really like this one. This one sounds like women are a disease!
hahahaha...of course men don't think that way, do we? No, of course
not! In this case, "Specialist in womens' health" sounds much much
better.

13) (In an Acapulco hotel) "The manager has personally passed all the
water served here."

This one is absolutely hysterical! To say, "the manager has personally
passed all the water served here," means quite simply that the manager
has drunken all of the water and then urinated (peed) it out!" This is
absolutely NOT the idea you are trying to convey here. If fact the
very opposite is trying to be said. What this person was trying to
say was, "The manager has personally inspected all of the water served
here," which means that this hotel holds its water to very high
standards for the benefit of our customers.
The purpose of this activity was first of all to try and have a laugh.
But on a more serious note, many of you will be working in places
where English is spoken and often times written. It never ceases to
amaze me how many things get written, published, printed on clothes,
stamped on cars, etc. all over the world. The point is, take some
extra time to check with a native speaker you know when you write a
sign that will be used in public. Otherwise, you end up looking
unprofessional and get laughed at. It's not a threat, it's just a
reality. Please, don't forget that you do have resources available to
you. One of them is ME! Just ask. I'm always busy but as we say, "If
you need something done, give it to a busy person!"