Friday, May 09, 2008

A new word is born


Chinglish refers to the mistranslation of Chinese into English that often time yields quite twisted, and entertaining, incorrect meanings. Examples can be found at this web site.

A screwed up translation is an understandable mistake. Even more perplexing are native English speakers who quite effectively simulate Chinglish.

The sign to the left is a pretty good example of that.

I suppose, after a longer time spent pondering it then is reasonable, that it is reserving parking spots for customers who've placed time consuming orders and will have to park and wait for them to keep the line moving.

Still... does a business really want to put up a sign that makes people laugh over what idiots they are? Even more astonishing, the sign's wording was probably thrashed out in endless meetings, memos and conversations. Didn't a single person visualize how that sign would read when it was erected?

I hereby name such stupidity Committeelish.

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