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Tom's avatar

"I don't care anymore". :D I could wear a t-shirt like that too. I wonder who is the guy that has the job of inventing random expressions in English to stamp on T-shirts in Asian countries. It must be fun.

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JustPlainBill's avatar

That “My Family” photo is something. Besides all the other unspoken assumptions you listed, I would add another: There’s also no chance you’ll be arrested for wanting to get a closer look at that Capitol building just behind you.

As a side note to that, I can’t help but notice that the people out on the street with cardboard “Anything helps” signs or sleeping in their cars are rarely Asians, even in cities where I know there are lots of them. My wife and I drove by a couple a few months back, the man white and the woman Asian, holding the obligatory "Anything Helps" sign. We agreed that it was probably the first time we’d ever seen an Asian panhandling. Draw your own conclusions about why that is.

The English language signage in non-English-speaking countries can sometimes be amusing. I have a photo of one I snapped in Taipei a few years ago just outside a laundromat. Apparently images cannot be posted in Substack comment sections, but the funny part of it that is in English reads as follows:

ACCORDING TO "WASTE CLEANING ACT", DOG-OWNERS WILL GET NT$ 1,200 TO $6,000 FINE IF THEY LET THEIR DOGS SHIT ANYWHERE.

I guess you have to tell your dog to stop, since once the deed is done, picking it up will not save you from being fined. BTW, the listed fine in US$ is roughly equivalent to $40-$200.

Here in California, there is now a lot of signage that includes Spanish after the English. I know very little Spanish, but have wondered just how faithful THAT translation is...perhaps the Spanish speakers here are getting a similar chuckle out of the mangled Spanish translation of the English sign!

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