They do a pretty good job in Vietnam in getting their message across in English and I am happy for that. Even though the local language uses the same alphabet as English, it isn't as simple as it might look (to learn) at first glance. Sure, if you learn what a few words look like you will know what they are selling there but the difficulty arises because the letters do no make the same sounds as they do in English. There is also the added bonus of all the accent marks and I don't have any idea what any of them do So therefore, words NEVER look the same in both languages despite having similar building blocks.
Modern Vietnamese was built by missionaries that were here from Europe and Alexandre de Rhodes is credited with working for many years to become the first foreigners fluent in Vietnamese and created the writing system. The Vietnamese recognize this and there are statues of him in honor of what he did. Prior to that, the population was mostly illiterate because the language is based off a version of some sort of Chinese language that only a few people in the world can even read at all today.
Anyway, it is therefore understandable that some mistakes are going to be made in translation every now and then even now hundreds of years later.
Here is a good one that I found when I was shopping for sandals for my gigantic feet online.
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I really cant imagine what was going through the mind of the person who was in charge of this advertisement. There are a TON of Vietnamese people that speak English well enough to know that this is definitely NOT what they were trying to say.
In the end I was going to order a pair just so I could experience that "feeling" but the maximum size they had was around a size 8 in US/EU sizes. Pity.
This next one comes from the restaurant right next door to my house.
If you've ever wanted to have an entire bottle of vodka with your lunch you can do so next door at the rice stand next to my apartment for $4. I can't think of a better way to accompany my rice with chicken! These sorts of mistakes are funny and expected on menus especially since it is still evident what is for sale. There is another menu item that has a picture of some vegetables but the description is "a full spoonful of garlic" and I don't think anyone ever orders that because nobody actually knows what it is. I asked the owner, who actually speaks English quite well and he couldn't explain it in English so I'm guessing it is one of those things that the name of it doesn't actually explain the dish, kind of like "toad in the hole" or having "soldiers" for breakfast.
Now onto the dog memes. When I am collecting memes I tend to focus on animals because they are cute since my doggie is cute. Let's see what you think.
Thankfully, Nadi is not a destructive animal when she is left alone, but I have known people throughout the years whose animals are incredibly destructive when they are away. I got very lucky with this because I didn't train her to do this. The only time I have ever come home to a mess was because I left chicken wings in the trash can that is on the floor and it was short enough for her to get in there Some things are just too good to resist. She was punished, she knew she would be punished, but I think in her mind that it was worth it. Well, until that dreaded day arrived where she got into some KFC stuff in a trash bag and eating the bones nearly killed her.
Here she is, at the vet's office that nearly resulted in her death, with small bones trapped in her throat about 2cm from the windpipe that leads to her lungs. Had I not insisted on taking her to another vet, she would not be here today
Ok, that took a turn for the not funny, so let's now look at this story someone has about how a dog protected her when she was a child, and I found it very endearing.
Aren't dogs the best. Charlie was terrified of the vacuum, yet he was willing to put his own life at risk to protect the little girl. awwwww
This last one is something that me and a close friend of mine found wildly entertaining. There is this person in our bowling group that is "socially challenged" and honestly, every single time he says almost anything it is un-humorously offensive, stupid, and often weird. Because we are kind we don't chew him out for this but when I showed the meme to my friend and asked him "do you know who I am talking about?" he got it right on the first try.
I don't know what can be done to fix that guy. I don't think anything can be done unfortunately. We tolerate him but just don't engage any more than we have to. He is older so it isn't going to change anytime soon. Some people just weren't meant to get along and for the two of us, he is that guy.
Today is bowling day, and I haven't been bowling so great lately, but as I like to say, "a bad day of bowling is still better than a good day of doing almost anything else." I hope your day is as great as mine is certainly going to be folks! Have a blast out there!