My Engrish is Leary Good!

We’ve all had those days - you know - the ones where nothing seems to go right? Well, I think I just had one…well at least the latter part of my day turned into a tragedy. I thought I’d be really diligent and get my lunch ready for tomorrow, so I made a chicken stir fry thing (I’m trying to eat healthily again), and put it into my neat lil lunch box, but for some odd reason I decided to place it on a hot plate. There is now, a pile of plastic-infused chicken and rice, where my deliciously, prepared lunch used to be. “Smart move, Benny.” Man! My kitchen smells like a massacre!

To make things worse, while that was happening, I was at the gym. When I finished, I had to trudge back home in the pouring rain. Ending the spell of bad luck, as I hopped in the shower…there was no hot water, because someone, I won’t mention who, *cough* Joe *cough*, used it all before me…

Thankfully, not everything that happened to me today was quite so tragic; while at work two amusing things crossed my path.

The first of which was that I was reminded that the 25th May, this Sunday is towel day (towelday.org). Towel day commemorates the life of Douglas Adams, the brains behind Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, in which he stated the importance and the usefulness of towels. Ironically I have a towel over my head as I type, to keep me warm after the damn, cold shower.

I remember Ernst and I gave Katy that book, which by the way is a lot better than the movie, for her birthday and told her that she couldn’t be our friend until she had read it…technically she wasn’t our friend for months, but being the kind of people we are, complacent and desperate for friends, we let her off the hook…you’re lucky we’re computer geeks and don’t know too many people Katy!

The second was an email that was forwarded to me, titled “Is Beijing Ready for the Olympics?” courtesy of Karisa. There were a bunch of pictures from a site called www.Engrish.com attached to it; to illustrate just how far the East’s aptitude and handle on the English language had grown in provision for the influx of tourists. My sides were splitting, and I think I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. One thing I’ve learnt today is not to drink coffee while looking at this particular site, because most of my coffee ended up on my keyboard and monitor and not in me, ideally where it should have landed up!

To give you a taste of what I’m talking about, here’s a link for your viewing pleasure: www.Engrish.com. If you think the Engrish site is really far fetched, those who have been to China or Japan will tell you a different story, hey Pleee- siii-rraa (Priscilla in broken Japanese english)?

But if I were you, I wouldn’t be too quick to laugh. The next time you think you’re rocking, with that super, sweet, tattoo of yours. The one in, Chinese calligraphy that’s supposed to translate to something deep like “Love, Honour and Trust” I’d think again…