The English Blog

Lost in Traduction

I took these pictures at the railway station in Le Havre. While you might be able to forgive a French restaurant for translating its menu into English with hilarious results, when it comes to SNCF, the state-owned national railway company, you expect something a little more professional (especially when there must be hundreds of these posters in stations all over France). In fact, the translation is so bad that I wondered if they'd just used Google Translate. But no, Google Translate would have given a better result (although for some inexplicable reason it refused to translate 'objets'):

Found.
Found a telephone service is available at the following number.
Thank you for your details.
Name and phone number.
A sales representative will contact you as soon as possible.

By the way, the correct translation of 'Objets Trouvés' is 'Lost Property', an interesting difference in perspective.

The lesson is clear: if you don't want your organization to be a laughing stock, use a native speaker translator.

Sign Language: Codfathers

I took this photo of a fish & chip shop called Codfathers in Saltash, Cornwall, over the summer. Codfathers is a play on the word 'godfather', which can be a male godparent (if you are the godparent of a younger person, you promise to help bring them up in the Christian faith), or the head of a criminal organization (think Marlon Brando). Cod are a type of large edible fish. Battered cod is a popular item on fish & chip shop menus. I don't think there's any connection intended between the two—it's just an amusing pun.

Sign Language: Blooming Lovely

I took this photo of a flower shop sign in my home town of Plymouth. Flower shops and hairdressers often have names featuring wordplay and puns. 

EXPLANATION

Used with an adjective or noun, blooming is an intensifier (in fact, it's a euphemism for the swear word 'bloody'). • You blooming idiot! • It's blooming hot today! That's the first meaning. However, when a plant or tree blooms, it produces flowers, and when a flower blooms it opens. That's the secondary meaning. 

Sign Language: Hair Dot Comb

I arrived back in Le Havre this morning following my holiday in Plymouth. Once again, the weather was disappointing—no sign of the 'barbecue summer' we were promised by the Met Office. Still, I had an enjoyable eleven days or so and finally got round to visiting the Eden Project, which I've been meaning to do for years. Since it rained most days, we spent a lot of time going round the shops, which gave me an idea for a new feature on The English Blog. 

There are plenty of websites which have pictures of funny signs or linguistically-challenged signs, but I thought it would be interesting to look at shop name signs which feature puns or wordplay. So here's number one in what I hope will be a regular slot.

 

Hair Dot Comb is a unisex hair salon in Saltash, Cornwall. Most people know that '.com' (pronounced 'dot com') is a popular top level domain. Here, they've added a 'b' to 'com' to make 'comb'. (A comb is a flat piece of plastic or metal with teeth, which you use to tidy your hair.) The lettering they've used is similar to Computer Regular, and is no doubt meant to reflect the Internet theme.

If you have any examples of punny shop signs, send them to me and I'll put the best ones on the blog.