English is such a weird language! What makes this sign so incredibly hilarious is the fact that it's so spot-on logical and correct. That's what I like about languages. And this does remind me of the stuff that comes out of Victor's mouth, and Štepán had more than a few poetic declarations. Actually, my favorite bit of Victorized English came when he and I were on the phone and I asked how I'd get around Moscow when I get there, and his response was: "Oh Chip, do not worry about this. In Moscow, we are have plenty of black cars with Arabic people driving them." I knew beyond all shadow of a doubt what he meant and that taxi cabs in Moscow look rather...um...English. And then there was Štepán's brilliant declaration (when drunk.) He'd experienced a moment of...um...urinary necessity and excused himself to the men's room, and when he came out, he did so with a really annoyed expression on his face and declared: "Ze mechanism for closure of the pants...too complicated when you are drunk." He then launched into an exquisitely descriptive, gramatically-improvised rhapsody on the superior qualities of velcro. The funny thing is for as hilarious as this sign is: "Eye brown wax?" It's perfectly logical and for a language detective, it kinda gives clues as to how some other language works: and it shows just how truly weird English is. I rather like that. And yes, English is an odd language...it's such an improvised muddle and it's so infinitely flexible. There are slippery languages all over the place, but English is about as slippery as a fish with ADD swimming through oil. I love this shot. I love this sign. I love knowing that the writer of this sign speaks another language and that I can see how their mind was working as they wrote this. All of the flaws in this are perfectly correct, and it makes me wonder just how I'd handle the language used by the person who wrote this sign. As Victor so lovingly declared: my Russian is improving...I'm good enough now to sound like a retarded five year old. THAT is a compliment. My Russian improved enough for me to sound like a retarded, five-year-old native speaker. Of course, my Czech is probably worse. I try to speak Czech and Štepán just shakes his head...or Pavl just looks confused and says: "Just say it in English." This is fantastic! We should spend my next birthday over there...where mold grows in the big castle, and where beer is cheaper than water.

Superb capture and dedication my friend. God Bless.

Wonderful! Your narrative and Chip's reply make it even more hugely enjoyable.

My husband has told me of a Russian, I believe, he knew who kept talking about a hoatal. A hoatal??? He meant to say hotel. It was a confusing conversation. Great sign. I could pop up a few "English as a second language" signs from places here in town, but it would take me months to get through the lot of them if I'm posting one a day. LOL

Very amusing, thanks for the smiles!

I love signs like these--great find!!

Not only was the sign funny but Chip's expression "English is about as slippery as a fish with ADD swimming through oil." was top notch!

Clear communication, indeed! I'm a little confused about the "threading" eyebrown wax, but then I don't do waxing, so maybe the meaning has been lost on me through a different sort of translation. Well seen!

wonderful capture

Priceless. Excellent find.

SUPERB IMAGE! GREAT DEDICATION!