MercyA Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 (edited) I really, really hope this is not interpreted as me being mocking or mean. I feel compassion for workers at companies which can't afford (or don't want to pay for) good English translations on their products. While I was looking for pj's for my daughter, I found some interesting English-y words and phrases on some of them. I give you: Rabbit pj's which inexplicably say, "Love the rain of cats" or possibly "Love the rainos cat." Kind of cute. Could be a unique gift! Rabbit pj's which say "YIFH F*&@#" 😮and "With a smile and shower, don't forget to clean your ear. Morning smile." Possibly a good reminder for someone? 🙂 Cat pj's which say "CARTOON" and "Create your unique, warm, and stylish romantic home." Clearly a cut-and-paste job. Duck pj's which say "NAUGHTY." No, just no. I actually like these and am going to ask my daughter if she wants them: cat pj's that say, "Sea thet." A reviewer thought perhaps they meant "sea treat" or "sea food?" Anyway, they're really cute. 🐱 Edited December 2, 2019 by MercyA 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 12 minutes ago, CuriousMomof3 said: I kind of want to make those rabbit PJ's our "family PJ's" for Christmas, but I don't think i could afford the therapy bill. Just kidding, of course, those are seriously bad translations. ETA: So, I just looked up YIFH on Urban Dictionary. Some things don't belong on children's pajamas. Suffice it to say, that I'd never have written the above if I'd googled first. Oh my goodness. I didn't know it meant anything in particular. You could always go for the "rain of cats" rabbit pj's instead! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 I wish I could find the photo I took. My son had a set of plush ninja turtles with a tag that started with "WARNLING" and just got progressively funnier from there. I don't think it's rude to poke fun at a COMPANY for this sort of thing. Their safety warnlings should be in clear English. That's part of doing business in a foreign market. Yeah, warnling is a word at my house now. 3 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 Yikes! On *kids* pajamas? Those acronyms are pretty bad even for an adult who knows (maybe a hen party gag?) but for kids .... (head shaking emoticon should be here) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 Translations are the fount of humor and levity. Consider these gems: At a restaurant in the Middle East: The water in this establishment is safe. It has personally been passed by the manager. An unfortunate, literal translation from German if I remember correctly: Nothing sucks like Electrolux (a vacuum cleaner) At an upscale hotel - forgot what country: Ladies are asked not to have children in the lounge. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Liz CA said: Translations are the fount of humor and levity. Consider these gems: At a restaurant in the Middle East: The water in this establishment is safe. It has personally been passed by the manager. An unfortunate, literal translation from German if I remember correctly: Nothing sucks like Electrolux (a vacuum cleaner) At an upscale hotel - forgot what country: Ladies are asked not to have children in the lounge. The Electrolux is actually correct British English of the day https://gabriellaferenczi.com/2017/05/20/nothing-sucks-like-electrolux/ I remember that slogan. Edited December 2, 2019 by Laura Corin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 My son came back to the states (from China) with very similar shirts, PJs, sweats, and jackets. 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 My brother buys what he calls “silly English phrase” clothes for my kids. he lives in turkey and they’re always funny. I’ll post a pic when my dd gets up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 22 hours ago, Laura Corin said: The Electrolux is actually correct British English of the day https://gabriellaferenczi.com/2017/05/20/nothing-sucks-like-electrolux/ I remember that slogan. Evidently it was considered ambiguous at best or even plain unskilled due to the other meaning of "suck" in various English speaking parts of the world. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 25 minutes ago, Liz CA said: Evidently it was considered ambiguous at best or even plain unskilled due to the other meaning of "suck" in various English speaking parts of the world. 🙂 No, that's the point. At the time in Britain, we were largely unused to other meanings of 'suck'. We might have heard the usage in American films, but it wasn't part of British vocabulary. Thus it was a perfectly good slogan for Britain at that time. According to the article I linked, the slogan was not used in the US, so Electrolux did nothing wrong: it was only in the Internet age that it was picked up as funny. Wikipedia lists it as an urban legend that this was a blunder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_blunder 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 We have a gymnastics mat that says "in the sue of this mat." We joke that they planned on getting sued. (We actually like the mat, and bought a second one a few years later, it said "in the use of this mat," version 1 is much funnier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 4 minutes ago, Laura Corin said: No, that's the point. At the time in Britain, we were largely unused to other meanings of 'suck'. We might have heard the usage in American films, but it wasn't part of British vocabulary. Thus it was a perfectly good slogan for Britain at that time. According to the article I linked, the slogan was not used in the US, so Electrolux did nothing wrong: it was only in the Internet age that it was picked up as funny. Wikipedia lists it as an urban legend that this was a blunder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_blunder I think I remember that add from when I was younger 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 On 12/2/2019 at 4:56 AM, CuriousMomof3 said: I kind of want to make those rabbit PJ's our "family PJ's" for Christmas, but I don't think i could afford the therapy bill. Just kidding, of course, those are seriously bad translations. ETA: So, I just looked up YIFH on Urban Dictionary. Some things don't belong on children's pajamas. Suffice it to say, that I'd never have written the above if I'd googled first. I get Young Israel of Forest Hills 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 45 minutes ago, WendyAndMilo said: Scroll down more... Oh, I did, I did lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Many years ago I worked for a Japanese translation company. Sometimes we would have clients who were dead set on using a particular English word or phrase as, basically, decoration, regardless of meaning. It made for some VERY frustrating conversations. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 9 hours ago, JennyD said: Many years ago I worked for a Japanese translation company. Sometimes we would have clients who were dead set on using a particular English word or phrase as, basically, decoration, regardless of meaning. It made for some VERY frustrating conversations. I have heard of this back in the late nineties - especially with Asian countries where some executives evidently thought it was cool to put any English word on clothing regardless of meaning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.