Sign Errors :-)

Something which always amused me when learning Welsh at a higher level was the mistranslation of road signs. They tend to arise from auto response emails, overly literal translations of idiomatic English or people just not paying attention. Here are a few examples which have amused me. With the translation of the Welsh in red for you to compare.

 

I am not in the office at present. Send any work for translation. 

A basic grasp of Welsh would have been an advantage for this council. Or maybe they should have bilingual autoresponses. This isn't the first time I've seen this type of error.

Bladder disease upset.

Someone clearly couldn't speak Welsh OR read English, and pulled cystitis out of the dictionary instead of cyclist. Ouch.

Pupils and wooden stakes to... gibberish. Berlewyg isn't even a word.
Parents were very upset about this sign for some reason. Maybe because their children are vampires?

Pedestrians look to the left.
Now depending on which way they should have looked, there are two possible conspiracy theories here. Either attempting to kill of native Welsh speakers or the English... either way. Dangerous.




My favourite one, which I don't have a picture of, is one I found on campus in University about a raised manhole cover. This is where the literal translation comes in. They had translated manhole literally to twll dyn... they got the raised bit right. However in Welsh, twll dyn isn't man hole but arsehole. I was wandering about all afternoon at the idea the university warning us that someone had their bum in the air... ah, little things and little minds.

What's the funniest sign you've seen?

Funny/Clever Youtube Video

Check this youtube video out. Genius. I may over use that word... but it is really good.

Local Free Ads

Do you read your local free ads? I do. I found someone looking for books for a charity sale who was willing to collect, so I gave her a pile and wrote the address in for Project Serendipity.

I guess for me the ads have the same appeal as The Leila Texts; I always wonder about the back story. Who are these people and what is going on in their lives that they are posting these adverts? It's become something of a fascination of late, especially since I'm on the look out for a career move.

Here are some of my current favourites, either for humour, intrigue or both:

Lift to Stonehenge needed for 3 people on Sunday
STUDY PSYCHO Reimbursed short computer task
Need help. If you got a ladder, contact ASAP
Male, 17, Hardworking, Can Do Anything
Personal Training, Anticellulite Massage. For girls only.

I think the one with the ladder has to be my favourite.

Erasing David

I've been watching Erasing David on TV tonight. Its about a British man who puts himself under surveillance and then attempts to disappear because apparently Britain is one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. I would never have thought of it that way, but it is scary how much information can be pulled up so easily.

What was really worrying was the examples of corrupt data that were shown on the programme, people whose lives had been destroyed by glitches in the system which produced criminal records for them as a result of having a similar name and date of birth to other people.

There was a case where 39 people committed suicide as a result of being falsely accused of sex offences as a result of some data corruption. They were fully cleared, but years later it kept showing up on their records and no one knew where from.

The man in question is becoming extremely paranoid. I don't blame him either. He's gone to hide in the Welsh mountains, and I would too. Historically its been a pretty safe bet if you're trying to keep a low profile.

The Arrangement

Because great music is all in The Arrangement

Well, they say love is blind!

A male bar headed goose and a female mallard duck appear to have fallen in love at Slimbridge wildfowl park. Apparently they are inseparable and he attacks anything that comes within half a meter of his "mate". Bird experts have said that it is very unlikely they will produce hybrid offspring, but who knows? Very sweet. I just hope they don't end up empty nested.

Do bar headed geese migrate? Will the duck be allowed to go with him if they do? It's all very well to fall in love with someone from another species while at the Wildfowl Park, but can the relationship survive in the real world? I hope all the compromises aren't made by the duck.

Inquisitive

I have to admit to being really nosey. This is why I love this blog. The lady gets text messages meant for other Leilas. Imagine getting that snapshot into another persons life... magic.

I would like this, but I guess I would get disappointed everytime as I would think that it was for me. Hmmm.

Still cool.