Friday 3 October 2008

Signed up, signed off

It's been a tiring week, what with preparing for our one-year-in-business-and-still-surviving speech day, planning our school Halloween parties as well as teaching all our regular lessons, so how better to relax than to go shopping. When you suffer from sub-editors/English teacher's syndrome - the constant need to correct bad English signs - shopping can get stressful. In England, the syndrome usually means getting easily offended by the absence of apostrophes. In Japan, however, you have a lot more to get your teeth into. The use of English on signs here seems to be for spin rather than susbstance, and is usually one of three types:

1. Nearly but not quite: This grating sign greets me every time I leave Abiko station:



2. Excellent English, but somewhat inappropriate. This in the Abiko McDonald's:



3. Complete gibberish. This above a pair of shorts in a shop:



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

'In Japan, however, you have a lot more to get your teeth into.'

you're beginning to remind me of the Secret Agent with your use of understatement.Lofty praise indeed.

Anonymous said...

O/T palin/Biden,score draw on average.Surprised to say the least.

Our Man in Abiko said...

Depends who you read...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/02/biden-dominates-debate-ac_n_131455.html

Anonymous said...

saw it on the beeb news first thing.but reuters agrees the polls went to Biden
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4918G120081003?sp=true

to be fair it looks like Obama.A lot of fiscal conservatives are mad as hell about the bail out of investment bankers.could see a surge(well a little one anyway)in stay at homes or Libertarian protest votes.

Afte rthose interviews,I really thought Palin would struggle.