Saturday, March 24, 2018

Since Ever? / Desde Siempre?

La versión español está después de la versión inglés.

I HAD LUNCH with our dear friend Jessica the other day. She wore a cool, military style jacket with embroidery on the back. Knowing that I'm always on the lookout for funny English imprints, she carefully (she thought) reviewed the jacket before buying it (from a trendy shop). She didn't want to be the subject of another one of my blog posts. The jacket starts off kind of OK at the top and continues fine in the middle. But at the bottom is "RAMDOM zw ON." Don't ask me. I'm just the reporter. Maybe I shouldn't have told Jessica. She said she may never wear the jacket again. (Note: It has been pointed out to me that it does in fact say "random"; however, it still says "zw ON."

After lunch, I went shopping at our upscale department store, El Corté Inglés. Displayed are three T-shirts I did NOT buy. See if you can find why.

ALMORCÉ CON NUESTRA querida amiga Jessica el otro día. Ella llevaba una chaqueta de estilo militar con bordados en la espalda. Ella sabe que siempre estoy buscando graciosas impresiones en inglés, y leyó cuidadosamente (pensó) la chaqueta antes de comprarla (une una tienda de moda) porque ella no quería ser el tema de una de mis entradas del blog. La chaqueta comienza asi asi en la parte superior y continúa bien en el medio. Pero en la parte inferior es "RAMDOM zw ON". No me preguntes. Solo soy el periodista. RAMDOM no es una palabra. El resto? No sé. Tal vez no debería haberle dicho a Jessica. Ella dijo que nunca más volvería a ponerse la chaqueta. (Nota: Se me ha señalado que, de hecho, dice "random"; sin embargo, todavía dice "zw ON".

Después del almuerzo, fui de compras en nuestra exclusivo centro comercial, El Corté Inglés. Se muestran tres camisetas que NO compré.




"EVERY OURS IS HAPPY" (CADA NUESTRAS ES FELIZ). DEBERÍA SER "EVERY HOUR IS HAPPY" (CADA HORA ES FELIZ)?
SIGNIFICA: EL REY DE LOS MARES. BAJO UNA BANDERA NEGRA NAVEGAMOS EN LOS MARES ESQUISTO SER NUESTRO...?
NO HAY MUCHO QUE TENGA SENTIDO, PERO "SINCE EVER," ESPECIALMENTE, NO ES CORRECTO EN INGLÉS.

29 comments:

  1. They should hire us as editors before they print this stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Travel:
      Oh, you'd just LOVE Spain's driving manual as it's translated into English. I'd like to offer my services free of charge to correct it all!

      Delete
  2. egad! glad you didn't waste your euros!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. anne marie:
      And "every ours is happy" was 12.99. I can get really nice quality correct shirts for less than 10. Then again, maybe they charge for the typos.

      Delete
  3. I guess there are a lot of people who speak 'broken-englishese'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim:
      These are produced and then purchased by people who don't speak English... or people like me who find them funny.

      Delete
  4. Oh, the grammar. My first thought was that you didn't buy them because they're really kind of ugly.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So Mitchell - I think it is actually "Random" not "Ramdom" since the m has 3 humps and the n has 2 humps, as would be proper for cursive writing. I Googled "Random zw ON" and the first item is a fake address generator for Zimbabwe. How weird is that? Maybe they generate fake T-shirt messages, too. You have plenty to choose from.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wilma:
      You're right about random, although that penmanship! I wonder if the T-shirt was made in Zimbabwe!

      Delete
  6. Another lost in translation, funny but that is such a major department store you would think they would check their English if they printed it on clothing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheapchick:
      These aren't their own clothing line, so they get a pass. But I'm surprised by the high-end designers that screw up.

      Delete
  7. Since this is Spain, are these just translations gone wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kirk:
      These things are usually made in China or Korea. I don't think they even bother translating but just copy from things they see... and combine in odd ways.

      Delete
  8. Under Flag a we black sail

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adam:
      Thank you! That's exactly how I wanted to read it.

      Delete
  9. "...where every ours is happy." "Ours" is the French word for "bear." So there's that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Walt the Fourth:
      That's it! The latest in Paris fashion!

      Delete
    2. all my beary boyfriends should wear this shirt then!

      Delete
  10. That BRKLYN HAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mistress maddie:
      I keep seeing things with BRKLYN printed on them. That hat is "explicit" or so it claims.

      Delete
  11. That jacket is definitely nice, though, eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Judy:
      The jacket is very cool. My photos don't do it justice.

      Delete
  12. Oh the pain. You would think someone would run this by somebody before the barons give their thumbs up approval.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spo:
      I'd be happy to edit some of this stuff... free of charge.

      Delete
  13. And no doubt people are strutting around proudly showing their "English" t-shirts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Willym:
      Perhaps like those English-speakers that get Japanese tattoos only to discover they either don't mean what they think, say something terrible, or don't mean anything at all.

      Delete
  14. And that jacket looks so cool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Willym:
      The jacket IS cool and looks great on Jessica.

      Delete

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