お店看板について。。。

When I am not on the train I walk. In fact, I walk a lot. There is no better way to see Tokyo than on foot. (Nick might argue with me on this point.)

I saw this sign on my way to work last Saturday. I don't like to criticize other people's work nor do I like to make fun of them. However this sign was too hilarious to ignore. I am not business genius but I think if you have a shop and are going to put out a sign you should have someone else proofread your work. Actually, let me rephrase that, you HAVE TO let someone check your work before showing it to the public especially if it is in a foreign language.

Case in point is this sign. A simple spelling mistake can sometimes lead to a great embarrassment. I am sure you can spot the misspelled word yourself. Second of all, for the sake of convenience the person who made this sign decided to use wasei-eigo. I can sort of guess what order shirt means but it would have been better to say custom-tailored shirt, custom-made shirt or simply custom shirt. Order shirt sounds like シャツを注文する.

Finally, I told you this was a sign 4U2C. It came str8 outta my mem card 2 dis blog. It is fun writing casual English on a blog or when we are 14 but for a business sign I think it is best to stick to proper English usage. Order Shirt x 2= 15,750? Hmm... This sign looks like a halfway job to me. I hope this shop's owner is not going to come knocking on my door for criticizing his effort.

Useful vocabulary

• hilarious~~とても愉快な［楽しい・面白い・おかしい］、大笑い｛おおわらい｝の、滑稽｛こっけい｝な、笑いを誘う、浮かれ騒ぐ、陽気｛ようき｝な、爆笑｛ばくしょう｝させられる、笑わされる、おちゃらけた、おどけた、浮ついた
• proofread~~校正する
• rephrase~~〔発言｛はつげん｝・質問｛しつもん｝などをもっと分かりやすい言葉｛ことば｝で〕言い換える、書き換える ・Would you mind rephrasing the question?
• case in point~~ぴったりした例、好適例｛こうてき れい｝、好例｛こうれい｝、適例｛てきれい｝、代表例｛だいひょう れい｝、典型
• a halfway job~~中途半端な仕事 中途半端な仕事をするくらいなら、やめてしまった方がいいと思っている。 I'd rather drop it than do a poor job.
• receive a knock on one's door from~~ ～が訪ねてくる

Here are the answers from my last blog
1. smoke detector
2. fire extinguisher
3. put out the fire
4. firefighter