China will never be the same; at least Beijing, that is. As the Olympics approach, a quasi-government group in Beijing has set out to correct the city’s English menus and signs.
The WSJ just ran an article detailing these efforts: to date, for example, these language cops from the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program have replaced 6,300 road signs with often odd, sometimes downright hilarious, English phrasing, the result of bad translations.
We’ll definitely miss the restroom signs saying “Genitl Emen” (aka, gentlemen), such great attractions as the “Beijing Hospital for Anus and Intestinal Disease” (aka Hospital of Proctology), and street signs telling us “To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty” (aka, be careful: slippery). Or, “Little grass is smiling slightly, Please walk on pavement” (aka ?).
Fortunately, we’ll still be able to relive the good ol’ days on various websites, such as pocopico.com, flickr’s chinglish pool, chinglish.de, and google images, of course. Any other good collections out there, dear readers?