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Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
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Category: Children • Humour • Language
Posted on: June 13, 2011 8:20 AM, by Martin R
Fecal sample submission window.
Dan, be cake. Because the Danish-Belgian Cake Company says so.
"Busen" means "breasts" in German and "the naughty one" in Swedish.
No appointment needed. Come whenever you lie fallow.
"Shroff" means "tariff" in Engrish. Maybe.
Porular blog Aardvarchaeology a rad.
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Comments
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I don't know whether the term is obsolete or still current, but it seems to fit the icon on the sign.
Posted by: Dan Milton | June 13, 2011 9:54 AM
To be fair, a "shit assay" is pretty much what it is, right?
Posted by: Mikael | June 13, 2011 10:03 AM
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_h.php
Posted by: Birger Johansson | June 13, 2011 10:04 AM
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".
Posted by: Birger Johansson | June 13, 2011 10:19 AM
beauty and hair lie fallow must be for ugly and bald people ...
Posted by: nick | June 13, 2011 12:40 PM
#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."
Posted by: John Massey | June 13, 2011 12:49 PM
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.
Posted by: Martin R | June 13, 2011 1:57 PM
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".
Posted by: John Massey | June 13, 2011 2:46 PM
Soutpark's City Wook = Shitty Wook
Posted by: Thomas Ivarsson | June 13, 2011 3:59 PM
#8 The OED etymology for ketchup is "apparently
Posted by: Dan Milton | June 14, 2011 12:21 AM
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"
Posted by: Birger Johansson | June 14, 2011 7:38 AM
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"
Posted by: Birger Johansson | June 14, 2011 9:25 AM
Bah - I've been wearing an "OLD SH*THEAD" T-shirt for years.
Posted by: John Massey | June 14, 2011 9:52 AM