Engrish in your daily life - sandwiches mastered

[maillotpois]

I was enjoying a nice tuna salad sandwich in a deli in Palo Alto yesterday, browsing a paper and looking at their fancy, professionally printed sign.

First I noticed that they served Orang Juice. Then I read on and saw:




The proprietors were a little shocked that I took a picture of their sign. But I felt I owed it to you all.

Sandwiches. Mastered.

[Geonz]

If I dont have a little mastered on my sandwich, I feel like a bustard!

[SadieKate]

Sandwiches need to be beaten into submission every once in a while. They get so subordinate.

[maillotpois]

Also, please note that it is Siwss cheese. Because those Swiss were just too darned neutral.

[Lise]

heh heh heh heh heh.

What country does "siwss" cheese come from, anyway?

OK, now you've asked for it. I've been resisiting posting this, although I don't know why. There is a beautifully printed sign, laminated, on every door to a patient's room on the "mother-baby" unit at the hospital. They're new, as of last week. Each lovely sign has a touching picture of a baby of one ethnicity or other. The sign reads:

Baby's Are Precious! Wash Your Hands!

I was going to point out the lawless apostrophe abuse, but then I thought. They don't care. And these signs cost money. They're not going to change them. Then I'll be all the more irritated. I just try not to look at them. Focus on the cute babies! Do not look at the misused apostrophe! Go to the cafeteria! Wrestle a sandwich into submission!

[SadieKate]

Now see, I think that "Baby's" instead of "Babies" is unprofessional and lessens the credibiity of the medical institution. If they can't get a simple sign correct, what else can't they do right? I'd report it to Marketing immediately. It's a poor reflection on the organization.

It's not like a wayward piece of cheese.

[Lise]

Now see, I think that "Baby's" instead of "Babies" is unprofessional and lessens the credibiity of the medical institution. If they can't get a simple sign correct, what else can't they do right? I'd report it to Marketing immediately. It's a poor reflection on the organization.

It's not like a wayward piece of cheese.

Sigh. You're right. The dilemma is how to do that without pissing off whomever lovingly made the signs...hmmm. Thinking to whom to mention it. Someone with enough power to change it, but enough sense not to rat me out.

They replace signs that had a teddy bear with a broken arm in a sling which read, "Don't forget to rate your patient's pain!" Why, cuz having a baby is just like being a teddy bear with a broken arm? Oh, hospitals are strange places...

[Lise]

IFirst I noticed that they served Orang Juice.

Oh, please tell me it doesn't come from Orangutans.

[SadieKate]

That's what I was thinking also.

Blame a friend (me or whomever) for questioning the professionalism of an org that allows signs like that. "You know? A friend saw these signs the other day and said, "blah-blah-blah." Better yet, an actual patient. If they can't get the sign right, probably don't know which leg needs the operation. Maybe the surgeon is dyslexic. Maybe s/he hasn't mastered writing orders.

[maillotpois]

Oh, please tell me it doesn't come from Orangutans.

Serious bladder control issue forthcoming...

[Lise]

That's what I was thinking also.

Blame a friend (me or whomever) for questioning the professionalism of an org that allows signs like that. "You know? A friend saw these signs the other day and said, "blah-blah-blah." Better yet, an actual patient. If they can't get the sign right, probably don't know which leg needs the operation. Maybe the surgeon is dyslexic. Maybe s/he hasn't mastered writing orders.

Good thinkin'! Blame the invisible!

Unrelated, sort of, but...along the lines of "maybe the hospital is full of idiots":

Today I saw a Mongolian woman for a pregnancy test. This was at a clinic where pts can choose to come to our hospital or another one to deliver the baby. This woman was there with a friend who spoke more English (engrish? I digress). I explained that she needed to pick a hospital where she'd deliver. Her friend said, "Oh, we go to (other hospital). They experienced." I think she meant ....with Mongolian patients, so I refrained from saying, "Hey! We have experience, too! We're a real health care institution!" Here's your prenatal vitamins. Go in peace.

[Duck on Wheels]

Baby's Are Precious! Wash Your Hands!

Maybe what they mean is that baby's hands are so precious they don't need washing, but YOURS do.

[Adventure Girl]

Maybe s/he hasn't mastered writing orders.

Don't you mean mustard?

[fixedgeargirl]

Baby's Are Precious! Wash Your Hands!

Maybe the text was written in a doctor's handwriting, and it was all the poor folks in the sign shop could do to decipher it . I've worked in a sign shop, you're supposed to make the sign the way the customer orders it, abused apostrophes and all .

[Geonz]

I carry a sharpie for such occurrences. If they don't care about the apostrophe abuse, they shouldn't care about graffiti.