"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Signs, Part 2
As promised, here's more signs where the English language was mangled in unexpected ways. I love this stuff.
On a poster at Kencom:
ARE YOU AN ADULT WHO CANNOT READ? IF SO, WE CAN HELP.
In a city restaurant:
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. AND WEEKENDS TOO.
One of the Mathare buildings (a slum area of Nairobi, see note):
MENTAL HEALTH PREVENTION CENTRE
A sign on an automatic restroom hand dryer:
DO NOT ACTIVATE WITH WET HANDS
In a Pumwani, Kenya maternity ward:
NO CHILDREN ALLOWED
In a cemetary:
PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES.
Tokyo hotel's rules and regulations:
GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.
On the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
OUR WINES LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO HOPE FOR.
In a Tokyo bar:
SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR THE LADIES WITH NUTS.
Hotel brochure, Italy:
THIS HOTEL IS RENOWNED FOR ITS PEACE AND SOLITUDE. IN FACT, CROWDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD FLOCK HERE TO ENJOY ITS SOLITUDE.
There's still more, which I'll get to in the next couple of days. Stay tuned.
*The Mathare area of Nairobi is a very poor slum area for the most part, and the people live in desparation on the best of days. Yet, according to this article, there is at least one building in the area where apartments can always be had, spacious and at a good price. Why? Because the building reportedly houses "jinn", commonly known in western texts as "genies." The article is fascinating (not that I believe a word of it, at least not their interpretation of it) and it goes to show how the web has grown so that you can truly find almost anything at the touch of a button.
