Save Us From Ourselves!
By admin | July 14, 2010
You know how those oddly translated menus at Chinese restaurants make you giggle? Being surrounded by Chinese signs with English translations (well, if we’re lucky, they’re translated) provides many opportunities for such mirth!
However, we do have to be careful! Patti recently told me she’d found the oddest sign at school and was wondering what it could possibly be trying to say. “Every little makes a mickle.” “What could mickle be a mistranslation of? Nickel? Pickle? We finally decided to google it—turns out it’s a Scottish proverb. A mickle is like a bunch. It means something like “every little bit counts.”
A reminder not to underestimate the Chinese, perhaps.
1 Comment
Frederick Heald on July 14, 2010 at 1:28 pm.
FYI, this is known (on the always culturally sensitive Interwebs) as “Engrish”.
http://www.engrish.com/