FILIPINO SIGNS OF WIT: (snagged from Tetch's wordpress blog. :) )
The sign in a flower shop in Diliman called Petal Attraction;
a 24-hour restaurant called Doris Day & Night; Barber shop called:
Felix The Cut; a bakery named Bread Pitt; fast-food place
selling ‘maruya’ (banana fritters) called Maruya Carey. Then, there are Christopher
Plumbing; a boutique called The Way We Wear; a video rental shop
called Leon King Video Rental; a restaurant in the Cainta district of
Rizal called Caintacky Fried Chicken; a local burger restaurant called Mang
Donald’s; a doughnut shop called MacDonuts; a shop selling ‘lumpia’ (egg roll)
in Makati called Wrap and Roll; and two butcher shops called Meating Place
and Meatropolis.
Smart travelers can decipher what may look like baffling signs to
unaccustomed foreigners by simply sounding out the ‘Taglish’ (the
Philippine version of English words spelled and pronounced with a
heavy Filipino such as, at a restaurant menu in Cebu ‘We hab sopdrink in
can an in batol’ [translation: We have soft drinks in can and in bottle].
Then, there is a sewing accessories shop called Bids And Pises
[translation: Beads and Pieces –or– Bits and Pieces].
There are also many signs with either badly chosen or misspelled
words, but they are usually so entertaining that it would be a mistake
to ‘correct’ them like…….
In a restaurant in Baguio City , the ’summer capital’ of the
Philippines : ‘ Wanted: Boy Waitress’; on a highway in Pampanga: ‘We Make Modern
Antique Furniture;’ on the window of a photography shop in Cabanatuan : ‘We
Shoot You While You Wait;’ and on the glass front of a cafe in Panay
Avenue in Manila : ‘ Wanted: Waiter, Cashier,Washier. ‘
Some of the notices can even give a wrong impression, such as, a
shoe store in Pangasinan which has a sign saying: ‘We Sell Imported Robber
Shoes’ (these could be the ’sneakiest’ sneakers); and a rental property
sign in Jaro, reads: ‘House For Rent, Fully Furnaced’ (it must really be
hot inside)! Occasionally, one could come across signs that are truly
unique–if not altogether odd. City in southern Philippines , which
said:
‘Adults: 1 peso; Child: 50 centavos; Cadavers: fare subject to
negotiation. ‘
European tourists may also be intrigued to discover two competing
shops selling hopia (a Chinese pastry) called Holland Hopia and Poland
Hopia, which are owned and operated by two local Chinese entrepreneurs,
Mr. Ho and Mr. Po respectively- -(believe it or not)! Some folks
also ‘creatively’ redesign English to be more efficient ‘The creative confusion
between language and culture leads to more than just simple unintentional
errors in syntax, but in the adoption of new words,’ says reader Robert
Goodfellow, who came across a sign …..House Fersallarend’ (house for sale or rent). Why use five words when two will do?
:D
Petal Attraction?! haha!
ReplyDeleteFavorite ko Felix the Cut. hahahaha :)
ReplyDeletesa makati, may nakita akong nightclub/bar ata yun--ang pangalan, "big deeper". for several days naging palaisipan sa akin kung ano kaya ang ibig sabihin n'un...tapos isang araw, biglang narealize ko kung ano ang ibig sabihin. ay, "big dipper" (the constellation) pala, hahaha. gusto lang siguro nilang tunog-bastos, hahaha.
ReplyDeletehahaha! :) grabe, ang bastos nga nung dating ng 'big deeper' hihihi :) grabe ang galing talaga ng mga pinoy, in fairness. haha :)
ReplyDeleteA few I know of myself:
ReplyDeleteA computer shop named Bill's gate,
a restaurant in Cebu named Six in the City (apparently owned by 6 siblings) and oh,
beside what used to be Calamba's Max's, there was this place called Mac's Fried Chicken.
Of course, there's the classic 500 sewers wanted. i'm sure they mean mananahi of course, but you gotta admit our cities do need better sewage systems.
This one is so common it isn't funny: No parking on both sides of the road. The correct sentence of course, would be "no parking on either side of the road." Unless of course, you have a really big car and can occupy both sides of the road at once.
That won't excuse you from the traffic cops, of course. I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate being given an instant grammar lecture.
That brings up another "taglishization" (if you'll forgive the phrase): "God knows hudas not pay?" Those cops probably think something like that whenever you choose to take the ticket instead of offering a bribe.
Hudas?
Hm. Hudas indeed.