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1980s Japanese T-Shirts

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Anonymous

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Don't know if this is true as I don't speak the language, but here goes:

Some T-shirts popular in the 1980's with Japanese writing/symbols on them when translated into English were insulting and disgusting.

Any comments?
 
A foreign language sure is a minefield for the unwary . . . on holiday in Ibiza I practised my Spanish on a room maid and asked her for a chair for my balcony. Well, that's what I thought I'd asked for. When I checked later, I found I'd asked for a postage stamp . . .

Carole
 
Red Dalek said:
Some T-shirts popular in the 1980's with Japanese writing/symbols on them when translated into English were insulting and disgusting.
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I always tell people that my favourite Japanese sports jersey says 'Fat Stupid American', but really I've no idea. I sort of hope it does, though :)
 
I read a similiar story in the London Evening Standard in the early 1980's about the reverse trend. It seemed that such was the trend for clothes with English words on them that Japanese teenagers were wearing t-shirts ets. with words like 'pimple', or 'bum' on them. I have no idea as to the veracity of the article.
 
There was a probable UL about a guy from Brighton(?) who had an oriental tattoo, supposed to say 'Strength', or 'Spirit', or similar. It was only when he went to Japan for the (soccer) World Cup, somebody told him it actually said 'this is the ugliest stupid man in the world'.
 
Blueswidow said:
I read a similiar story in the London Evening Standard in the early 1980's about the reverse trend. It seemed that such was the trend for clothes with English words on them that Japanese teenagers were wearing t-shirts ets. with words like 'pimple', or 'bum' on them. I have no idea as to the veracity of the article.
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I remember Stephen Fry being interviewed on TV saying he always found it funny that places like Covent Garden & Carnaby Street were always full of young Japanese tourists with T-Shirts saying YES BOY ICE-CREAM! A friend of mine wanted to get one printed the same with english on the front and the japanese translation on the back and see their reaction. He never did though.
 
I heard a tale of a teenager who got a chinese tattoo. Chuffed with it he was... that was until he went to his local Chinese takeaway and the girls there started laughing. He begged them to tell him what was so funny about the new tatt he was flashing, and they translated it for him, which said (approximately) "it's a shame this boy is ugly". Sounds like a UL through and through, but I saw it in a paper (the Metro I think) with a photo of the boy and the offending tattoo...
 
I saw that in the Metro too, and he was quite homely as I recall.
 
I have a T-shirt, bought in La Paz, with the word "Fanny" printed in bold letters across the chest and below that an arrow pointing down... to a picture of a llama :D The T-shirt is quite long, so if I tuck the bottom into my trousers, the llama isn't visible :)

(Fanny, as mentioned elsewhere, is the name of the largest manufacturer in the Andes)

Jane.
 
When I was working in Japan last year at the World Cup I got my girlfriend a really cool cap with some Japanese writing on it. It looked really cool and she wears it loads.
Somehow I don't think she'd wear it as much if it was in English and it had 'FOOT' 'BALL' emblazoned across it :D
Anything looks good written in Japanese.
 
I'm sure you've all heard these before, but that's never stopped me !

The slogan for Coca- Cola in Japan 1989/90 was " I feel Coke" and of course there was the isotonic sports drink, " Procari Sweat", Mmmm. In the department stores you could buy stationary that had lines of English text decorating it. It never made sense and was always completely surreal. The mix of language was known as Japlish.
 
Filcee said:
(soccer) World Cup, some
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I think we took the football bit as a given, rather than expecting it to be the Sumo World Cup...he is from Brighton, after all.
 
I've seen lots of T-shirts worn by British people who can't read Japanese, which always makes me laugh. One of them was being worn by an unconscious pished bloke in a pub, all red and sweaty, and the T-shirt said in katakana: 'fowuuuru!' sort of , I think it was meant to say 'phwoar!'. In fact it would've been better if it'd said 'ha-ha-ha!'.

And that dipstick from the Spice Girls with 'girl power' on her arm - it actually said woman, not girl. Dipstick power would've been more accurate, methinks.
 
When I was in Amsterdam, a bunch of female Japanese tourists did a shocked double-take upon seeing their native lettering on my t-shirt (one of those generic ones skate shops love to sell).
They looked at each other in stunned amazement and then nearly killed themselves laughing. One even pointed and gave me a 'what the bloody hell do you think *you're* wearing?!' look. I reciprocated a weak chuckle out of politeness and hurried off.

I still don't know what it means, and no, I've never worn the frigging thing since.
 
A girl in my Japanese class wore a Tshirt with a manga-style schoolgirl leaning over a desk on it. Our teacher gladly told us that the text said: 'Come to my house and do some homework, but it will be very hard to concentrate.' :rofl:
 
Dansette said:
A girl in my Japanese class wore a Tshirt with a manga-style schoolgirl leaning over a desk on it. Our teacher gladly told us that the text said: 'Come to my house and do some homework, but it will be very hard to concentrate.' :rofl:
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That's not a proper non-sequitur! Heck, it's not even an unusual juxtaposition! Still funny though.
 
Well, it's just this thing that SOMEONE knows that it's weird, someone knows that the people wearing it will look like a turd.

Anyone seen the 'Engrish' website, with the notebook that has a cartoon panda on it and a caption that says something like 'I love the smell of pando poo first thing in the morning.'

Someone's having a laugh at our (English and Japanese) expense! I think we should be told!
 
I heard that the MR2 had to be given a different name in France: 'em' 'er' 'deux', 'merde' or 'shit'. Which may not have bothered Trade Descritpions too much .:D

Also, I think in an Asian language, 'Lam di char' means 'sit on my dick'. Which brings a whole new meaning to 'slam in the lamb'.

I don't think the French are immune to doing the same with English as the Japanese - I got a notebook in France once with Mickey Mouse on it, and it said in English 'Mickey is the coolest and therefore the most best suited to be the group leader of his gang.' Disney insinuating corporate speak into children's goods? Surely not!

And in the 80's there was a Spanish or Italian fashion for men to wear a pink sweatshirt with 'boys' written on it, regardless of which way they reclined.

If we must go for unintentionally daft surnames: there are many hilarious ones I come across in my job. Many Chinese people's surnames are 'Wang', because it means 'king'. Someone with this surname once wanted to set up a password for a database as 'kingwang'. Oh dear!
 
One of my favorite soups is a Thai soup called sum yun gai. But you never, ever order cream of sum yun gai.
 
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