Second Intermittent Chinglish Post

If you have noticed that the blog posts have been less frequent lately, it's because Ann is working through the complete detective novels of Dorothy Sayers. At least it seems that way. So while she is reading "Gaudy Night" (which she assures us is "the best by far"), I am launching into our second Chinglish post.

As those of you who read the first post are well aware, Chinglish is that uniquely Chinese style of composing English. We met an Australian at a Xiada party who teaches communication and cognitive theory. He claims that Chinglish actually follows specific rules that makes it comprehensible to the Chinese. He was given a long Chinglish-laden report to read on local television. He rewrote it so that it sounded like natural English. He was then informed that he was not to read that but to go back to the original since the Chinglish-ey version would be more easily understood.

So, here's to Chinglish - long may it reign!

The advertisement below comes from an in-flight magazine on China Air.

Ann and I rented flats for the first 10 years of our marriage before we bought a house. We had a lot of good landlords, but we had a couple landlards as well. But it must be really tough to be a foreigner and have a landlard.

Ann nearly dropped the coffee cup below when she first saw it in the store. Now she drinks from her blissfully Chinglish style coffee mug every morning. Whenever we have to go on a trip, Ann begins shouting "Animal Family General Mobilization!" while packing up our things.


I also want to let my sister-in-law Laura know that we have found a pig family general mobilization coffee mug. We have purchased it and it is awaiting her arrival in Xiamen to collect it. Maybe we will post a picture of it next month to further tantalize her.

The picture below does not count exactly as Chinglish, but I thought it worth posting. It lays out the PROCEDURE to follow at the Xiamen airport.

We understand the need to check-in first, but we think that buying aviation insurance even before security shows a lack of confidence in the whole system.

Below is my favorite pen that I mentioned last month. The picture might be hard to read but it says:

If you have what problem.
I answer this hard nut to crack for you.
The thought which uses me answers your question.

If anybody wants me to buy one, just send a message and I will bring some back for you. They are readily available at the local snack shop on campus.

Speaking of Chinglish on campus, we have spotted several t-shirts that are worth reporting. We cannot verify these with pictures as they are spur of the moment experiences (and a bit rude to photograph someone's chest).

I spotted a student with a shirt that read:

Two many chef poil the brot.

That's not a misprint. Ann has seen a 70-ish year old women (3 times) with a t-shirt reading:

Harsh Love Vibrate

We are pretty sure that she doesn't know what it means (and we are not sure ourselves, really).

This is Thomas's water bottle for school. Classic Chinglish sentence: Make living a more fascinating than a day.

And finally, remember to warn the children:

If I've said "No Striding" once, I've said it a thousand times.