I’m of the opinion that there is good Engrish in the world. Sometimes, Japanese-style reconfigured English finds nuances in language and word play, and expresses an emotion or observation so much better than a irony-saturated native speaker could possibly do.
This mail box, which I photographed in Kyoto, was an example of wonderful Engrish (at least to me).
And this sign . . . not so good. I’m pretty sure that the “automatically full” references a toilet bowl with automated flushing capacity. Certainly this sign is at least bathroom related. Anyway, I pushed the button.
As an Engrish ekusupaato from way back, I think it is a misplaced “ly” that means to say “fully automatic.”
so that is an example of Good Engrish, would you care to provide one of Bad Engrish ?
remora
thank you, yes, i totally agree! btw, edward, this is why the t-shirt posts sometimes bother me - it seems half-implied that we’re supposed to be laughing at the Engrish, when there are a lot of cases when you can actually draw something out if you “play along.” although, uh, not all the time!
I agree with both of you..er? (I think).
rem
What a dreary world it would be if we were no longer allowed to laugh at things that are funny.
anything written by me over the last two years on this site is generally guaranteed to be a prime slab of Bad Engrish as well as Appallingly Bad English…(except I’m not laughing at my incompetance - I’m weeping.)
Keep Posting Marie - Go for Broke!*
*motto of the 442nd Infantry Regiment and a quite touching movie that I watched on late-nite TV last week..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_for_Broke%21_%281951_film%29
I recommend it
remora
Well, it’s all subjective, of course. I really liked the first sign a lot, but the second one is funny too. And I, like mcvmcv, also find myself agreeing with some sentiment on a T-shirt. I really do think that some Engrish shirts tease out lovely sentiments and qualities from the language.