With the Theme of Engrish

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Fecal sample submission window.

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Dan, be cake. Because the Danish-Belgian Cake Company says so.

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"Busen" means "breasts" in German and "the naughty one" in Swedish.

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No appointment needed. Come whenever you lie fallow.

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"Shroff" means "tariff" in Engrish. Maybe.

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Porular blog Aardvarchaeology a rad.

More like this

SHROFF A banker or money-changer in the East; in the Far East, a native expert employed to detect bad coin. (from the OED)

I don't know whether the term is obsolete or still current, but it seems to fit the icon on the sign.

By Dan Milton (not verified) on 13 Jun 2011 #permalink

To be fair, a "shit assay" is pretty much what it is, right?

T-shirt text by Tea Party?
These are the guys who write the manuals for my electric gadgets.
Favourite sign (Frankenstein spoof) "Brain Depository. After office hours, deposit brains in hatch below"
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Misunderstandings: Do not forget the Swedish words for "the end" or "umlaut".
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For garbled language, my favourite is the quote by a certain politician ... no, see for yourself
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2011/06/palin_babbles_about_american…

By Birger Johansson (not verified) on 13 Jun 2011 #permalink

Deposit your shit here. Could be a phrase from a Spike Lee film.
The T-shirt is a cryptic clue for finding something hidden by the Illuminati.
Armoury: "Ncleer bomb. Do press button not".

By Birger Johansson (not verified) on 13 Jun 2011 #permalink

beauty and hair lie fallow must be for ugly and bald people ...

#1 - Still current. Also means a cashier in a car park - the person you pay money to for being permitted to park your car there.

The red sign refers to car parking (the large P), and the hand is proferring currency.

The characters liberally translated mean "where you pay the money".

It's not Engrish, it's far Eastern usage of an Anglo-Indian corruption of an Arabic word adopted into local English, and the meaning of the sign is absolutely crystal clear to anyone living in this part of the world. It means "This way to the cashier's office to pay for parking your car."

By John Massey (not verified) on 13 Jun 2011 #permalink

Regarding shroff, I think it is Engrish: a word found in an English dictionary that nevertheless fails to communicate to actual English-speakers what you mean.

I must admit it had me stumped the first time I saw it.

But it is shorter than "cashier". Just. But harder to say.

There are other strange words that have gained common usage in Far Eastern English.

Know what a "nullah" is? Or a "catty"? Or a "godown"? Or a "taipan" (no, not the snake - oh, well, maybe)? I guess most people know what a "junk" is - that's "a junk", as opposed to just "junk". And to "run amok" is pretty familiar.

A lot of people don't realize that the American English "ketchup" is a corruption of the Chinese for "tomato sauce". So when someone says "tomato ketchup" they are saying "tomato tomato sauce".

Like "paddy" is derived from "padi" meaning rice. So instead of saying "paddy field", when people say "rice paddy" to describe a rice field, they are actually saying "rice rice".

By John Massey (not verified) on 13 Jun 2011 #permalink

Soutpark's City Wook = Shitty Wook

By Thomas Ivarsson (not verified) on 13 Jun 2011 #permalink

#8 The OED etymology for ketchup is "apparently < Chinese (Amoy dialect) kôechiap or kê-tsiap brine of pickled fish or shell-fish". The OED cites ketchup in English from 1711 and catchup from 1699 and I've seen "ketchup" in an apparently reliable quotation from a book a couple of decades earlier. I doubt that tomatoes entered Chinese cuisine in the 17th century. If "ketchup" is now the Chinese for "tomato sauce" it must be a repayment from English of the word loan.

By Dan Milton (not verified) on 13 Jun 2011 #permalink

For once, the trolling from Mabus (aka Markuze) is entirely relevant: A thread about incomprehensible gibberish, with a superficial connection to English!
Martin, please do not delete, this is precious! :-)
-In fact, we could print it on the next T-shirt.

"Mind lie fallow"

By Birger Johansson (not verified) on 14 Jun 2011 #permalink

The author of "hydrophobic fattened when" is facing serious rivalry !

For once, the trolling of D. Markuze (a k a Mabu s) is right on topic. Incomprehensible phrases. Check. English-themed gibberish. Check. Please, Martin, do not delete comment 10. We could save the stuff and put it on the next T-shirt.

"Mind lie fallow"

By Birger Johansson (not verified) on 14 Jun 2011 #permalink

Bah - I've been wearing an "OLD SH*THEAD" T-shirt for years.

By John Massey (not verified) on 14 Jun 2011 #permalink