Konglish

The comforting thing about speaking English is that there tends to be at least some English in nearly every country in the world - a sentiment I lectured to my lazy english class today.

While English road signs or restaurant signs that say "Good Restaurant" can be either helpful (the former) or lies (the latter), it is nice to have a vague clue of what is going on around you.

Of course, as anyone who has ever visited an Asian country knows, sometimes, they just get it wrong. In China its called Chinglish and in Korea it is referred to as Konglish.

Korea has quite a good grasp on English for the most part, but the occasional business still decides to grab their English sign or slogan from an on-line translator and the results can be - well - hilarious.

I will continue to take pictures of our favourite Konglish moments while we are here - but here are two of the best ones so far to start us out.

Our first example may not be a mistranslation, but it is definitely a misguided selling point of beer.



Stylish beer with fiber - because nothing says style like a laxative hangover.

And our second picture is hands down my favourite Konglish yet. This little gem is from a photo studio that is just a couple blocks away from our house. I had walked past this place at least half a dozen times before I actually took a moment to read what the sign said. I'm glad I did - it has become a new mantra for my life.



It's a little small - so I'll write it out for you. I'm sure there's at least a few of you who may be considering having this phrase tattooed on your body.

Throughout my life I will inhale this aroma and also chew hard on it.

Words to live by.....