Elyse Sewell ([info]elysesewell) wrote,
2007-07-21 23:50:00

fly honey

Who is that sexy bitch looming scoliotically in the window of a Causeway Bay ladies' golfwear shop behind a polo shirt that reads, "Since you are merely lukewarm, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth"? That's the question on everyone's lips here on the razor-sharp cutting edge of fashion.


Do I need to reassert my opinion that certain foibles of translation are inherently funny and justify my decision to post them? Didn't think so. These are from my Beijing hotel room (the notice on the door and the menu from the hotel's restaurant).


(Thanks to [info]paulkienitz for the Photoshop job on this one.)








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[info]midnight_d

July 21 2007, 15:56:43 UTC 4 years ago

:D I just love your posts.

And raw, where can I get me that outfit?

[info]midnight_d

July 21 2007, 15:56:54 UTC 4 years ago

Erm, "rawr".

And woot, FIRST!

[info]_talloolah

4 years ago

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[info]tsubaki_ny

4 years ago

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[info]hopelesswriter

July 21 2007, 15:57:01 UTC 4 years ago

I don't even want to know what "explodes sausage" does to your digestive system.

[info]thenotoriousphd

July 22 2007, 13:47:03 UTC 4 years ago

I suspect it's pretty self-explanatory.

[info]lillokiangel

July 21 2007, 15:58:52 UTC 4 years ago

Poor seadogs and their burned skin.

[info]bo_shek

July 21 2007, 15:58:56 UTC 4 years ago

first? HAHA! where is the 'Causeway Bay ladies' golfwear shop'?
n hv u bought that cd yet? maybe i can let my fd help me as he is going to mainland. ;]
btw, those dishes names are so funi whether in chinese or english. hv u tried them all?

[info]elysesewell

July 21 2007, 16:07:46 UTC 4 years ago

I went to Kwun Tong today and went to that guy's shop (well, it's not really a shop, it's a shipping office). He didn't have the CD in stock so he told me to go home, go back to his website and order it, and he would order it for me. But my application to become a buyer on his website still hasn't been approved (I think most people buy from that guy in wholesale), so I have to wait and talk to him next week. Argh! I think he was amused that such a weird person was in his office desperately looking for such a weird CD, so he's probably going to help me.

Do you have a Chinese-music downloading thing like Limewire? Could you search that for mp3's?

[info]bo_shek

4 years ago

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[info]bo_shek

4 years ago

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[info]bo_shek

4 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

4 years ago

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[info]bo_shek

4 years ago

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Anonymous

4 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

4 years ago

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[info]bo_shek

4 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

4 years ago

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[info]bo_shek

4 years ago

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[info]redacted

July 21 2007, 16:01:41 UTC 4 years ago

But - just what are "supenor scattering facilities," and are they effective in "explodes sausage" situations?

[info]elysesewell

July 21 2007, 16:17:14 UTC 4 years ago

Please don't worry. Just make your way to the information corridor.

[info]bostonista

4 years ago

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[info]emianne

4 years ago

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[info]cinemama

July 21 2007, 16:01:45 UTC 4 years ago

What do hand bags have to do with text from Revelations? John Waters is probably the only one who can answer that question.

[info]stupidactor

July 21 2007, 16:03:36 UTC 4 years ago

This is not the entry to see when I wake up and haven't turned on my brain yet.
"...cooking the family what?"
P.S. Went off and downloaded more of The Animals. Here's to discovering more than one hit!

[info]meliasaurus

July 22 2007, 18:27:27 UTC 4 years ago

love your icon :)

[info]moroccomole

July 21 2007, 16:07:01 UTC 4 years ago

Haiku for you:

Red point stand for where
The Chrysanthemum iron
Onion burns sea dog

[info]elysesewell

July 21 2007, 16:12:39 UTC 4 years ago

The Jollibee icon makes it a truly transcendent experience. Arigato gozaimashita.

[info]shoukinkasegi

4 years ago

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[info]lolita_complex

July 21 2007, 16:07:27 UTC 4 years ago

i just happened upon a photo of you with a mushroom cut in my UK hair mag!

[info]elysesewell

July 21 2007, 16:09:02 UTC 4 years ago

Oh hell no! Was it "Salon St Karl"? HA!!! Love it. Thanks for posting this.

[info]lolita_complex

4 years ago

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[info]tsubaki_ny

4 years ago

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[info]sunnydalegirl

4 years ago

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Anonymous

July 21 2007, 16:20:05 UTC 4 years ago

Yeah-Ya!

Woot anything that explodes sausage is alright with me...
Shouldn't they have people that check the translations and make sure they aren't jarringly incorrect? I guess it's not that, that important so they wouldn't but whatever perhaps it's all for the best because if they fixed it what would we have to laugh at?

[info]elysesewell

July 21 2007, 16:32:28 UTC 4 years ago

Re: Yeah-Ya!

I used to wonder about that myself, but now I realize why incorrect translations persist despite the apparent "ease" of finding a native English speaker to make sure it's correct. The person who translated that menu was a non-English speaker in the middle of Beijing- even if he could find a whitey, it would probably be uncomfortable and difficult for him to the person to ask for help, not to mention that your average American or Canadian tourist would have no idea how to correct a translation like "the onion burns sea dog skin." Based on that translation and the picture of the food, my best guess would be "Braised sea cucumber with spring onions"...but I really don't know if that describes the dish at all.

[info]midnight_d

4 years ago

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[info]str4wberrylover

4 years ago

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Anonymous

4 years ago

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[info]eveready

4 years ago

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[info]str4wberrylover

4 years ago

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[info]fgg_1

4 years ago

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[info]reihime

July 21 2007, 16:21:56 UTC 4 years ago

hilarious!!

Anonymous

July 21 2007, 16:33:56 UTC 4 years ago

ugh......the dishes

Elyse,
the name of the dishes look unattractive at all even though in Chinese. I can't imagine how horrible it sounds to a foreigner. The bone and meat connect together? the ''sea dog'' skin? oh.....
And I think many people may not be dare to try!

BTW, I've heard Poman said about the CD. (Although I don't listen to music very often, I can ask my friends.) Do you have the name of the song, anyway?

Mandy
from HK

[info]waynefromlorain

July 21 2007, 16:44:38 UTC 4 years ago

STAND=UP COMIC

My theory about these weird translations is that they hire a Chinese stand-up comic to write the menus and hotel directions to confuse and baffle all those crazy foreigners. It makes you think hard before you chow down on the exploded sausages.

Anonymous

July 21 2007, 16:53:50 UTC 4 years ago

Be wary of explosive sausage! LOLOL!

[info]zetai

July 21 2007, 16:54:30 UTC 4 years ago

Yellow peril

That multicolored top makes you look like a carton of Neapolitan ice cream.

I had to look twice at the polo shirt to be sure that the wearer wasn't engaging in some kinky poo games. Vomiting poo on someone doesn't sound very loving. In any event, a lady does not spit, even if what she put in her mouth disappointed her.

I wonder how well the hotel's su-peen works at fighting fires? Hey, it worked for Gulliver. I'm not sure about these "security belts," though. Getting the guests drunk may make them forget about danger but hardly puts the fire out.

So after the bone is connected inside the meat, the sausage explodes. I think I saw a sex ed film once with a similar plot. Meanwhile, some insane cannibal is cooking the family to feed his chickens, and the family's dog is being tortured with onions. As between onion dogs, stewed simian, and bony, exploding sausage, it's easy to see what you went chowed down on.

[info]chanelsunglasse

January 26 2011, 13:20:22 UTC 1 year ago

Re: Yellow peril

rolex replica wow gold LED power supply breitling watches cheap oil paintings Rosetta Stone French
moncler outlet text to speech software wholesale charm

[info]paulkienitz

July 21 2007, 16:55:26 UTC 4 years ago

hahaha....

The fire directions were kinda illegible on my monitor so I enhanced the picture:

[info]invisibelle

July 21 2007, 17:51:03 UTC 4 years ago

Yeah, heh, I got a good laugh at that as well.

Anonymous

4 years ago

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[info]ncsujen

July 21 2007, 17:05:13 UTC 4 years ago

haha I am dying for that polo shirt, I want to give it to my mother.

[info]squata_hey

July 21 2007, 17:07:33 UTC 4 years ago

"Red point stand for where you stay now" is my favorite REM song.

[info]pajmo

July 22 2007, 05:09:56 UTC 4 years ago

Murmuring

Holy shit! Right before I read your comment I was thinking that Michael Stipe must have gone to school in China Town*, Also, when I read "Red point stand for where you stay now" on that sign, I decided that I have to write a song and include that line in it. Yup.

Chuck

*I suspect Bush may have had a Chinese tutor in his youth - "Put food on your family."

[info]banked

July 21 2007, 17:16:29 UTC 4 years ago

SCATTERING FACILITIES

[info]teh_dirty_robot

July 21 2007, 17:19:39 UTC 4 years ago



This was one of the best engrish-y things I photographed while I lived in Taiwan. I'm really devastated that the photo I took of the 'Eye glass cunt' store is gone.

[info]megiknit

July 21 2007, 17:22:24 UTC 4 years ago

so that's the newest trend in the east....security belts....

...kinda sounds like some kind of old folks underpant.

[info]fairytownsend

July 21 2007, 17:25:54 UTC 4 years ago

"The chrysanthemum iron saucepan cooks the family.."

the lost portion of beauty and the beast's "be our guest" scene

Anonymous

July 22 2007, 02:00:21 UTC 4 years ago

HAHAHA! nice! i like that one!

[info]couldtry

4 years ago

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[info]tortestrane

July 21 2007, 17:52:30 UTC 4 years ago

I had to search for that shirt after reading this entry, and upon google-ing it I discovered that it's actually from a bible verse. Revelations 3:16. I'm not sure if that's common knowledge (it doesn't seem like it would be), but I think that that makes it all the more hilarious.

[info]homo_ono

July 23 2007, 04:29:50 UTC 4 years ago

It certainly wasn't common knowledge to me and I also think that it makes the shirt all the more strange and entertaining.

"I know you well - you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth." (Rev 3:15-16)

Anonymous

4 years ago

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[info]stevejosephson

July 21 2007, 17:59:22 UTC 4 years ago

You reading The Time Traveler's Wife?

[info]elysesewell

July 21 2007, 18:13:18 UTC 4 years ago

Nope, just wrote it down because [info]mayzface loved it.

[info]stevejosephson

4 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

4 years ago

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[info]stevejosephson

4 years ago

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Anonymous

4 years ago

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[info]stevejosephson

4 years ago

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[info]deananana

4 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

4 years ago

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[info]stevejosephson

4 years ago

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[info]elysesewell

4 years ago

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[info]stevejosephson

4 years ago

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[info]zetai

4 years ago

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Anonymous

4 years ago

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[info]stevejosephson

4 years ago

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[info]sillysally310

July 21 2007, 18:11:34 UTC 4 years ago

Hahahaha
This is sooooooooooo funny!!!!

Who will know what the food is and order them????
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