This article was originally published on WackoJaco
Learning a second language is never easy. This is especially true if — like the majority of the world — your native language isn't derived from Latin. Despite this, English is used around the world today and many countries even mandate that it be taught in schools and used on government and store signs. But what happens when the people making the signs aren't exactly masters of the English language? The result can be downright hilarious, and will surely make you giggle uncontrollably!
This Still Has Some Merit
Mispesslings caught on signs are fairly common, but rarely does their message end up making more sense after a mistake is made. This sign was originally intended to dissuade people from dumping trash in this area, but a spelling mistake changed the meaning. And honestly, the new meaning is hilarious to the point that we wouldn't mind putting this somewhere in our home to establish a "no dumb area" for when we have to put our thinking caps on.
"Not dumb area here" might actually encourage us to make better decisions. Anyway, we hope the owner of this sign saw a drop off in dumb decisions in his area after he put it up.
At Least They're Honest
We aren't quite sure what this sign was supposed to say, but we're totally digging what it ended up saying. We all have that one suspicious supermarket in the neighborhood and it's good to see someone finally wearing that badge with some honor. Our suspicious supermarket usually has the same guy standing out in front seven days a week but maybe this supermarket keeps its guy out back somewhere.
After looking at the sign a bit longer, the spelling isn't the only thing here that looks a bit suspicious. What's wrong with that sun on the far left? It looks a little off.
Autocorrect?
Poor David, he's become another victim of autocorrect. We're pretty sure someone meant to type Covid-19 here and instead their processor ended up correcting to David. The only mystery left is why they left it the way they did. Maybe they didn't double-check the sign after they printed it? Even so, this is a pretty glaring mistake that wouldn't have taken but a glance to spot and correct.
If it was just a joke then we feel even more sorry for David. Now, it looks like he had an accident in the pool or something and caused it to close.
That's Unfortunate
There are harmless misspellings and then there are those that completely change the meaning of a sentence. This photo is of the latter and it would probably have us balling our eyes out if we came across this in traffic. We'd definitely give them a honk or two. We also hope they didn't thrust too hard, you never want to see someone throw their back out, especially not like that.
We want to meet whoever this car belongs to and just listen to them talk for half an hour. It'd either be really entertaining or really uncomfortable.
Ever Read This Comic?
Ah yes, Toiletman, this was one of our favorite comics growing up. You'd find it in every supermarket stall in the city. We're not sure if whoever wrote this sign was trying to say something like "men's bathroom" but we can only guess that was the intent. However, between the word Toiletman and the male-shaped stick figure, we're sure people get the idea and can figure out that this is the men's bathroom for themselves.
If Toiletman were a real superhero, what do you think his superpowers would be? Actually, what kind of supervillains do you think he would find himself facing off with? Don't let that thought linger too long.
Don't Do It
There isn't much out there that might deter us quicker from wanting to use the sanitizer than this sign. But, you can't really blame whoever wrote this. The word "sanitize" isn't the easiest to spell and it does sound a lot like the word "satanise". And who knows maybe this is a two-tiered system. For all we know, they could have a bottle of holy water you use right after satanising your hands.
When we see these signs it also makes us wonder where they were created. Wherever this sign was made, they apparently use British spelling because they traded out the "z" for an "s".
So Sweet
Imagine breaking this out on Valentine's Day and handing it to your significant other. They would either laugh or immediately walk off. If it's the first one then they're probably keepers. Everyone deserves to be treated like an "angle" and if they don't then you should probably drop them like a "potato". In all seriousness, we're actually kind of curious what the second line of this is supposed to say.
What could be so mistranslated to end up as the word "potato"? We mean it kind of works but then again potatoes aren't that bad are they?
That's Not Politically Correct
Learning a new language can be hard and sometimes when someone is learning they can end up using the wrong terms. Those terms can also come out sounding pretty harsh. They're just learning. But, when someone messes up this bad on a sign, then they probably shouldn't be the ones translating into English. We're pretty sure that whoever wrote this didn't mean for it to come off sounding the way it does though.
Saying this to someone in English would probably be pretty offensive. However, it does make for a pretty hilarious mistranslation that was permanently put on a sign.
That's Kind Of Harsh
Whoever made this sign must've been hurt by some vegetables at some point in their lives. We mean, they aren't our favorite food group either but we're not going to go out of our way to make a sign and disparage them in public like this. Jokes aside, we were left wondering how this translation could have gone so awry until a Chinese user responded to this photo and explained the whole thing.
They said that the Mandarin word for "dry" uses the same character as the word pictured in the photo would. So basically, it's just a bad translation that led to a pretty funny sign.
Bet They Regret Sending This Email
Emails can be fickle. Unless you set up your account to delay when an email is sent, once you press that button then you're not getting it back. Whoever sent this email learned that lesson the hard way after misspelling "gentle". At least, we think that's what they were trying to spell. It's hard to be too sure with these. Either way, they ended up sending the word "genital" in its place.
Apart from totally being inappropriate in an office setting, it also just killed any urgency the email would have had. Though, that might be for the best as this email seems a bit passive-aggressive.
Never Got That Advice On Sunday Before
While this is clearly a translation mistake, it still kind of makes sense. Who wants to work on Sunday? This person is just telling people to go home and leave them alone. There was also a Chinese person in the response, who said that the translation of these words would've been pretty hard to mess up, meaning whoever wrote this sign likely meant what they said. And good for them for saying what most of us are thinking on a Sunday.
We don't speak Mandarin, so we can't confirm but we like the thought of it. It's kind of like a "gone fishing" sign but much more in your face, you know?
Wouldn't Even Think Of It
Arabic can be a tricky language, especially if you've been given the task of translating it into English. Whoever translated this sign likely doesn't have a problem with people uploading photos of fish, but they likely wouldn't want people fishing and taking them from the water. What we don't understand is where the "download" part comes into play. Could they mean no "catch and release"? We aren't too sure.
We are pretty sure that this person's department won't be asking them to translate any more signs anytime soon, which is unfortunate because we really enjoyed this one. It's got flavor, even if it is telling people they aren't allowed to fish here.
Umm, Okay
There's a Michael Scott joke in here somewhere. We would actually like to know what this sign was attached to in order to get a little context out of this photo but alas we're only left with this erroneous spelling. We aren't even really sure what they were trying to say, but perhaps the guy who wrote "thrust in Jesus" on the back of his car will find this and translate it for everyone else.
It could be possible that they meant "firmly" instead of "furiously"? Then again, maybe not. It could just be that whoever wrote this sign really did want people to "insert furiously".
This Is Actually Perfect
As we've seen in some of the other posts, sometimes mistranslations can end up being better than their source material. This is one such example and we really do want to think that "tiny grass is dreaming". It's such a nice notion and hopefully, this sign doesn't get corrected anytime soon. This sign almost sounds like something you might find in a book or read in a poem somewhere.
Someone who spoke the same language as the sign was written in, responded and said that the translation is actually quite similar to the source text. The original text says that the grass is resting.
You Think They're Knock-Offs?
These socks are pretty hilarious, but the tweet here is gold. There's literally no other website we could think of besides Wish that might be selling these knock-off soda socks. With that said, they might be fake but they're still pretty funny and we'd probably wear these around just for some laughs. Well, maybe not the Peepi socks, blue isn't really our color if you get what we're saying.
The Coco-Colo and Spripe socks on the other hand are pretty hilarious. You could even mix and match these if you wanted to add a little variety to them.
We All Crode
Unlike emails, you can take back social media posts and simply delete them. That is if someone doesn't take a screenshot before you manage to see the mistake and delete your post. We're kind of glad someone did save this one though because otherwise we couldn't all share the moment and shed a "crear" together. This really is a touching moment between two adults who've been croding their eyes out.
The person who posted this had a pretty hilarious response, too. We all know the only reason we keep Facebook around is to read the comments and posts and pick out all the spelling mistakes at this point.
Time To Get Out Of Here
If you ever want a way of keeping someone out of your yard, ditch the "beware of dog" sign and put one of these up instead. There's no burglar who's going to brave ending up like the poor soul who lost his foot here. Even the font looks menacing. That aside, there are actually some weird cases out there of dismembered feet washing up on shores so this sign isn't out of the realm of possibility.
This is also one of those signs that seems pretty important, so it's actually a shame it was mistranslated so bad. It's trying to warn people of something but we don't know what.
This Wrapping Paper Is Actually Kind Of Cool
We're not sure if this was actually a mistake or just some twisted joke from the wrapping paper company. Either way, we'd totally buy this if it's a real thing. Imagine giving a friend a gift wrapped up like this. You've already won, it wouldn't even matter if the gift was any good. The wrapping paper is the present here. Hopefully, the kid who's present is sitting underneath this tree can't read very well though.
You wouldn't want to spook a small child, or worse, have them going to school asking all the other kids what Satan brought them for Christmas. That might make for an awkward letter home.
This Guy Gets A Collective Pass
This person may not speak perfect English, but I'm pretty sure the collective English-speaking world would give him a pass after seeing this sign. It might not be grammatically correct but it doesn't have to be when you're trying to convey a message this heartwarming. Ten years is a long time for anyone to have to wait to see family. Luckily, this business owner was able to close up shop for a day when his sisters came to visit.
We hope they had a good trip while they were there, and by looking at the sign they had the perfect person to host and show them around.
The Honesty Here
We're not sure what exactly happened with this menu item, but we can take a guess. It looks like someone was trying to find an English translation and possibly description for their dish, but wasn't able to. Having no other options, they simply wrote down that the dish was delicious nonetheless. And we're absolutely loving the honesty here. It's kind of like someone telling you to "just trust me bro".
It also looks like they weren't able to find a few other menu items as well. Either that or we've just never heard of food called "Mermaid in Deep sea".
It Usually Is These Types
Asking someone not to speak their native language is pretty low. You shouldn't get to dictate how people are able to speak and what language they use, but if you do, then you're probably a bit like this guy. He's calling for immigrants to speak English while also misspelling the word "our". We think somebody needs to go back to school and get themselves some education before they try to force someone else to speak the language.
The lack of self-awareness in this photo is pretty astounding. Then again, it usually is people like this that are the loudest and most outspoken, on either side of the fence.
They're Probably Not Wrong
Someone really got their words mixed up when they translated for this public service announcement. We're pretty sure they mean that cars cause accidents but the way it's worded suggest they're talking about something besides car accidents. And in all honesty it still kind of works. We're sure it's not a number that high, but we mean come on. Remember, always buckle up when getting into a car, accidents happen.
This actually looks like a case of mistranslation by Google Translate. The right words are all there, they're just in the wrong order which is common on the app when word order is different in a foreign language.
Yum!
There's nothing better than some warm "synonym buns" in the morning. These actually look pretty good, so this person can be forgiven for misspelling cinnamon. It's actually a pretty hard word to spell anyway and especially so for a non-native speaker. Also, can we take a second to appreciate the response someone wrote underneath? Our grammars would be proud of these as well. Though they could never be as good as the puns she used to make.
After this photo was posted, some non-native speakers replied and confirmed that yes, everything about these words is indeed hard to tell apart because they sound so similar, like many words in the English language.
Not Exactly What They Meant
There's nothing worse than being misunderstood in a text, but this person kind of had it coming. We mean, they went straight from saying "hello" right into asking for "pigs" or pics as they meant. The person responding to the request for "pigs" is playing it pretty cool, though. Instead of just ignoring the texts they're having a bit of fun with the whole thing.
The full-body pig at the end had us laughing pretty hard. It's clear who had the brains in this conversation, and ironically it was the person sending the pig emojis.
They Are Too Headache
This one is actually quite wholesome. Someone tweeted out that they were approached by someone who wasn't a native English speaker while they were with their same-sex partner in public. Instead of saying something ugly, the person simply nodded and said that "men are too headache". We can agree with this sentiment and now we're just curious if the person who said this was a man or a woman. It's entirely possible it was a man.
It would also make this whole interaction ten times funnier if a man happened to say it, but either way, this was a pretty wholesome post compared to some of the others.
That Chicken Had No Manners
Chickens have it pretty hard. Unless they're raised in the neighborhood then they probably grow up on an industrial-sized farm and are pumped full of drugs in close-knit pens. So, if they're a little cranky then we get it. Jokes aside, someone wrote that this was supposed to read jerk chicken but that doesn't really make sense either. Why would an Asian-style restaurant be serving jerk chicken which is Jamaican?
Also, what made the person who wrote this extrapolate so much on the fact that the chicken was "rude and unreasonable"? Wouldn't the word for "jerk" work just as well?
The Pope Is Getting Desperate
The Vatican must really be worried if they're going to this length in order to get new converts. This "Catholic converter" was spotted for sale online. And here we were thinking conversions were free of charge. Someone really managed to screw up the spelling of "Cadillac", which is what this particular part is called. It's meant to cut down on the emissions of your car, but for the low price of $350 you too could spread Catholicism to your local neighborhood.
All you need now is some hand sataniser and you could literally present a problem and then charge to fix it. Now, that's the kind of business sense the person selling this needs.
He Had So Many Chances
It's not often someone misspells the same word nine different times without this much remorse. What's worse is his message. The Lion King is definitely not in any way, shape, or form overrated. But, for some reason, this person insists on tweeting from the rooftops that it is. Not only did his ludicrous message get lost but so did his acumen for spelling correctly and we think it's just karma.
Some responders asked if he indeed was referring to the Disney animated classic though, suspecting there probably is something out there called the "Loin King", but we'll let you look that up for yourselves.
Femans
We've never actually seen a restroom dedicated to "male man", but you learn something new every day. We suppose this is some kind of collaboration with the mail service, but we can't be sure. Jokes aside, many languages make use of complex suffixes and prefixes and maybe that's what happened here and led to the confusion. We're pretty sure anyone who speaks English would be able to tell which bathroom is the men's and which one is the women's.
We mean, this sign is basically saying men's and women's twice and in two different ways with the use of male and man. The same goes for the words female and woman.
That's Deep
It's not every day you get asked an existential question from your computer. They usually just slowly grind you down till one day you ask yourself this same question. Programs you install are usually pretty polished in this department as well and grammar and spelling mistakes are hard to come by. That makes this dialog box all the more perplexing. There's always the chance that a programmer coded this joke into their application as well.
Either way, it's kind of dark. What exactly would happen if this person clicks "no"? Would they immediately cease to exist or would they be sucked into some kind of virtual world? We never thought applications could be so deep.
Rest Sounds Good
We're pretty sure this isn't from the U.K. government because we've never heard of them threatening someone with more "rest". If there are any scammers reading this then first; stop doing what you're doing, and second; learn to master English before impersonating a government entity. Also, why would the U.K. government force someone to buy an iTunes gift card? There's just so much wrong with this scammer's strategy that it's laughable.
If we'd received this on our phones then the first thing we would've done is burst out laughing. The second would have been to text back accepting the invitation for more rest.
That Actually Sounds Tasty
Of all the error-prone menu items we've come across we've never seen anything quite like this. The weird thing is that it actually sounds like it tastes pretty good. For some reason, it sounds like something that's spicy. Anyway, this has us really curious as to what this dish actually is and how someone got the translation so wrong. Unfortunately, nobody in the comments seemed to have an answer to either question.
It also evokes some disturbing images, which is why we're going to leave this one alone from here on out and let you ponder those questions yourself.
Ouch
We're not certified nail technicians but we're pretty sure this isn't actually a manicure set. If we walked into a nail salon and saw someone brandishing some pliers and a screwdriver then we'd promptly turn around and walk out. But, who are we to say, maybe there are times when someone has to pull out some heavy-duty pliers to get at an ingrown nail or something. And technically all of these items probably could be used in some kind of capacity.
Or maybe these are CIA-issued and that's their term for talking "enablers". Either way, these look like they'd be much better put to use hanging a small frame in your home.
That Turned Pretty Quickly
There's nothing more unfortunate than when your translation turns into something like this. We're surprised nobody has alerted the business owner to this yet, but at least someone managed to snap a photo. Not only that but what was this description actually trying to say? You have a verb at the beginning and then just a name or possibly a condition at the end. Nothing here makes sense, but it's all kind of funny if a little dark.
We also feel a bit sorry for the restaurant owner. Could you imagine having to pay to get your menu printed and then it comes out like this? Maybe that's why it hasn't been replaced yet.
Just Be Careful About It
Someone obviously got tired of warning people against slipping and then just gave up. They now advise them to slip carefully if they're going to slip at all. The image on the sign is pretty on point as well. And if you think about it then this translation really isn't that far off the mark as far as some of the photos we've seen on this list are.
It's also a good way to avoid getting sued. A judge isn't likely to side with someone who doesn't heed the advice of a warning sign that clearly states to slip carefully.
Safety First
This might be the last sign you want to see when faced with a fire, but it's placed above something that's obviously not a hand grenade. At least, fire extinguishers don't usually go boom. Either way, the sign here is kind of unnecessary. Anyone who has ever been in a building before probably knows what a fire extinguisher is and they probably have a vague idea of how to use one.
Though they do use a pin in a similar fashion to a hand grenade. However, that's where the similarities pretty much stop and we'd much rather have this in case of a fire and not a grenade.
We'll Pass
What is it with menu items and translations? While we're not sure what dish this is, we're pretty sure a husband wasn't used in making it. At least, we hope not. And if you were going to use a husband to make it then why would you use a "sixi" husband? It just doesn't make sense. Still, this might make one pause and reconsider before ordering this specific dish, or any dish for that matter.
It already isn't the most appealing dish to the eyes and this description doesn't do any help. But, we're sure the "sixi roasted husband" tastes just fine.
Definitely Overqualified
Job applications are usually some of the most boring and tedious things you will ever be forced to fill out. The questions in them are all the same and don't really convey your experience or talent set. However, if you're lucky then every so often you might be gifted with a gem like this that completely breaks that monotony. We've literally never been asked if we had 0 years of experience but it's a question we would gladly answer and ace.
This person's reply is probably more hilarious than the application itself. We too think they are way overqualified for whatever it is they're applying for. That is if they speak United States of course.
The Purge
Politicians spend millions of dollars on communications in order to sound appealing to their constituents. So, when something like this happens it's actually pretty hilarious. We're pretty sure they meant to say they want to cut the rate of homelessness in half by 2025 but this is just giving us purge vibes. How could a sign like this get past so many people who were probably involved in constructing it?
We're pretty sure that as soon as this was discovered it was promptly replaced. No politician wants to end up becoming a laughing stock on the evening news, which is what this sign would've done.
Nice To Meet You
High-ranking government officials and even lower-ranking ones usually travel with at least one trusted translator. Diplomacy can be fickle so it's extremely important that words and their tones are conveyed accurately. However, diplomacy also works best when two leaders share a personal relationship. This is likely why former Japanese prime minister Yoshirō Mori attempted to use at least a little bit of English when meeting former U.S. president Barack Obama.
We won't go through the whole story of what happened since it's included in the photo, but if we'd been there we would probably have had to try hard to contain ourselves from laughing. We're sure some in the room had to do the same.