Thai "howlers"...

[wilko]

I was looking at the Thai Vs English posting (a rather confrontational title?) and I began thinking not so much of the amount of English used, for that is quite a lot really but the inadvertent mistakes made by both Thais and non-English speaking businesses in Thailand....

e.g.

In Pattaya instead of "Hostess with the Mostess" - it read "Hostess with the Moistes"

Swimming pool in Koh Chang - No swimming in the Nupe....

Seafood restaurant: -

Friend fried,

Squit with garlic and pepper

any contributions????

[penzman]

Seafood restaurant in Phuket were proud oftheir famous and tasty "Crap meat"

Saw one of those awfully painted buses yesterday which had huge letters on it that said "The fun of road"

[taxexile]

this is from phuket , and although the english is completely upside down , it is quite understandable , and sometimes that is all that matters.

[Abandon]

I bought a 'James Bone' dvd once

[Tywais]

I bought a 'James Bone' dvd once

That's disgusting

[uncle paul]

i had some "ice scream" in a bkk restaurant

[NguuMuu]

Here's two that I have always found humurous:

A curtain in a hotel somewhere not too far from Bangkok...

A sign in a popular bar on Khao Sarn Road. Not too bad, I just think it's funny.

[psychosid10]

i once happened to witness "crab MEET fried rice" in a Bangkok restaurant

Edited September 16, 2005 by psychosid10

[phuket Mike]

My girlfriend bought a t-shirt from the market that said "I Love You Very Must"

[Khutan]

Some of the things you see on T-Shirts makes me laugh so much I think the best one was

He is NOT my boyfriend - He is my ride

[frodo]

One of my favorites...wish I'd had a camera at the time, was, "Duck Fired." Still can't imagine what that duck did to get fired.

[DavieA]

I bought a 'James Bone' dvd once

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah I saw that. Was a great porn flick! Lol.

Not so long ago I was in the local department store. (small country town in the far south). I was laughing at a T shirt that said in big bold print, "&lt;deleted&gt; you you F**king &lt;deleted&gt;!"

As I chuckled the young and slightly crazy shop assistant came over saying "welly cheap, welly cheap". I asked (in Thai) if she understood the t shirt. "Yes!" she said, as she began to shout the words across the department store repeatedly!......No one battered an eyelid. Wish I had my vid camera on me.

It's not only the bad spelling of Thais that makes me laugh but also the way they throw these, to them, seemingly cool words around. If only they knew the real meaning.

Edited September 16, 2005 by DavieA

[DavieA]

Just thought of another beauty.

Several months ago my Mattayom 2 students (13/14 years old) had a speaking test. We had been learning about clothes. The students were required to come to class dressed in casual clothes, and each had to tell me what they were wearing (blue jeans, orange t-shirt etc).

I had a great laugh when one of the boys stood in front of the class wearing a t-shirt saying "&lt;deleted&gt; of Wanke*s".

[BambinA]

Bambi

[ThaiPauly]

"We Take Care You" Tesco Loutus advertisement on Tuk Tuks in Chaing Mai, (abd probably elsewhere too. I can't beleive that a Company especially a British Company would allow such a thing to happen, and I also can't beleive they have not withdrawn them. The Top Brass are I know for a fact Farang

[BambinA]

KFC Isaan

[loong]

That reminds me of a time when an ex told me she go crazy with her mother. After asking what the problem was and much confusion, I eventually realised that she meant KFC - not Crazy

Not Thai but still funny

The following products failed to research and understand the local cultures, to their cost:

Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate."

An American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa) the shirts read "I saw the Potato" (la papa).

When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazor" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

Chevrolets new Nova was released in Spain, before they realised that 'NO VA' in Spanish means "wont go".

Fords Pinto failed to sell as expected in Brazil. 'Pinto' translates there to 'Tiny male genitals'.

Gerber baby food in south africa used the same packaging as in the U.S. without realising that in Africa they often show the contents of a product on the packaging, as a high percentage of shoppers there cannot read. The Gerber product labels showed a baby.

"Come alive with the pepsi generation" translated to "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead" in Taiwan

Coca-Cola, when translated to Chinese, read "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect.

Coors slogan "Turn it loose" was put into spanish and read "Suffer from Diarrhea".

[loong]

Dry cleaners in Bangkok: "Drop your trousers here for the best results".

Sign on the Athi river highway: "Take notice - when this sign is underwater, this road is impassable".

In a Nairobi restaurant: "Customers who find our waitresses rude ought to see the Manager".

Cocktail lounge in Norway: "Ladies are requested not to have children in the lounge".

On the menu of a Swiss restaurant: "Our wines leave you nothing to hope for".

Doctors office in Rome: "Specialist in women and other diseases".

Airline ticket office in Copenhagen: "We take your bags and send them in all directions".

On an automatic hand dryer: "Do not operate with wet hands".

On a poster at a conference: "Are you an adult who cannot read? If so we can help...".

On the grounds of a private school: "No trespassing without permission".

Edited September 16, 2005 by loong

[mrbojangles]

On an automatic hand dryer: "Do not operate with wet hands".

On a poster at a conference: "Are you an adult who cannot read? If so we can help...".

On the grounds of a private school: "No trespassing without permission".

[loong]

I know that this has an extra "L", but no mind

http://ianandmanda.typepad.com/photos/oddi...late_snack.html

[loong]

http://ianandmanda.typepad.com/photos/oddi...arket_copy.html

[loong]

In Thailand, amusing examples of the misuse of written English can be found just about everywhere. I’ve yet to read a Thai/English menu that doesn’t list at least one "hairy dog balls" type dish. Last week, I saw an ad for an electric shower that promised buyers the dubious pleasure of "a water heater in the backside."

Even multi-million dollar real estate developments get the treatment. The bizarrely named TIT Tower is hardly Bangkok’s most desirable address. Off Silom Road we have PMT Mansion – an apartment building that I imagine to be full of frazzled English girls leaving a hot iron to burn through their favourite blouse as they retrieve spilled frozen peas from the floor.

For the benefit of American readers, I’ll suggest to the owners that they change the name to PMS Mansion.

A hotel price card in Chiang Mai had all the room rates with a couple options listed. One was "Extra Bad" for 150 B.

I was having a meal on one of the river cruise vessels last month. On reading the menu and looking at the drinks prices I was amused to find that if I had brought my own drinks I would have been charged 400 baht 'cockage'.

(stolen from anothers website)

Edited September 16, 2005 by loong

[PETERTHEEATER]

Saw this today in my local Tesco/Lotus on a Japanese import cake icing (frosting) bag package:

'It's going to sprend out in a mouth that memories of chiidhood it's a sweet and a little bit bitter'

You tell me what it means!

[BambinA]

this story but funny

a farang goes to a market..and see boiled corn from a vendor look yummy

Farang : how much?

Th seller : Ja ao gee FUK จะเอากี่ฝัก( How many ears of corn do you want?)

Farang : what?

Th seller : gee FUK กี่ฝัก

Farang : $#%!@$

finally somebody tries to explain that bloke about FUK = ears/cob

ข้าวโพด 3 ฝัก Khao Phod Sam Fuk = 3 ears of corn

[loong]

Long winded

http://www.ty-thai.com/23606.html?*session...session*id*val*

[BambinA]

another 1

Farang Lady named Jenifer who live in TH age ago , can speak TH

Jennifer meet Somsri, a girl next door who just jogging

Jenny - Sawassdee ka khun Somsri ,Sabai dee mai? (Hi Somsri,how are you?)

SS - Sabai dee ka ,peng pai wing ma ( Im fine , im just finished jogging)

Jenny - Moy mak mai ka ?

(actaully she means เมื่อย mêuay (feel stiff ; have an ache )) ...but its hard for farang to pronouce word mêuay ... and what Jenny just pronouced , in thai it means " Pubic Hair"

SS - Rom Ram หรอมแหรม (a lil bit - use for hair)

base from true story

[Tywais]

KFC Isaan 

Seen a street vendor just like that near CMU. Her sign was KFG - figure it must be Kentucky Fried Gy

[mrbojangles]

(actaully  she  means เมื่อย  mêuay  (feel stiff ; have an ache )) ...but its  hard  for  farang to pronouce  word  mêuay ...  and  what Jenny just pronouced , in thai it means " Pubic Hair"

base from  true  story

Yeah, i used to get it mixed up as well, when going to watch Thai Boxing ( Muay Thai)

[sierra01]

"We Take Care You" Tesco Loutus advertisement on Tuk Tuks in Chaing Mai, (abd probably elsewhere too. I can't beleive that a Company especially a British Company would allow such a thing to happen, and I also can't beleive they have not withdrawn them. The Top Brass are I know for a fact Farang

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Entirely irrelevant I know but a couple of days ago I bought some small 'sultana' cakes in Lotus, Chiang Wattana road, I couldn't believe that an English company that I know and (used to) trust would have the nerve to sell 'sultana' cakes that contain one, repeat one, sultana per cake!

[Eastender]

On Ko Chang in a toilet I saw 'Please don't open water on the fool'.

And in Sumatra at the bottom of a menu 'Thank you for your come'.