Bad Design
Engrish Photo By: Richard D
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IT’S SO TACKY.
This is german and means: bathroom & design
So the whole thing reads “Bathroom and Design Design”? Well, at least they hammered the point home.
Not, “BAD” is not an acronym here … “Bad” means bath, to “Bad & Design” = Bath & Design.
Now that you mention it, I should’ve figured that one out myself… thanks for clearing things up!
It’s Dutch.
Dutch =/= German
Yeah, there are lots of languages in which “bad” corresponds to “bath”, German being one of them, so I’m thinking it does actually say Bath & Design. It still looks fun though.
Dutch is one too.
Ha ha… funny…
NOT!!!
There are so many languages in the world which have equal/similar words with different meanings…
You English people don’t even have a word for kindergarten. BTW: This would be “children’s garden” or something like that… And THAT definitivly IS funny
Of course we have a word for “Kindergarten.” It’s “Kindergarten.” Oh, I know, it was your word first. But it’s ours now. And we’re keeping it. We’re also keeping “Sauerkraut” and “Dachshund.”
It’s not just you either: we’re keeping “Garage” and “Omelet,” “Algebra” and “Alcohol,” and “Tchotchke” and “Chutzpah” too, among others.
If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think we’re going want to keep “farfegnugen” much longer.
As speakers and writers of the English language, we have the full rights and proper permission to borrow, steal, acquire, or otherwise abscond with words from any language, for which we feel there is not a suitable English word. Furthermore, we are authorized to acquire such words, even when there are suitable English words. Names are fair game for this process.
We may also verb any noun, whether or not it is trademarked. You may google this for verification.
We may also modify the meanings, parts of speech, spelling, and pronunciation as we see fit.
If you know of useful, or merely entertaining words, names, or random collections of letters that you would like to see in the English language, you may submit the word for inclusion, simply by using it as if it already is a word.
Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets. — Eddy Peters
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sorry… couldn’t resist.
and yes… you are right by declaring your rights, wich also belong to any other language in the world just the same
A friend of mine said that English is a bastardized language. That is only partially true. English is the language that bastardizes everything else. So what if Bad = Bath?
.
Japanese bastardize words as well.
Eakon = Air Con = Air conditioner.
Konputaa = Computer.
.
Okay, now we have discussed this to death. Can we finally kill it now?
.
.
.
Heh, this be a zombie discussion.
I also like the japanese “arubaito” meaning german “arbeit”, meaning “work”
Especially since the Japanese use it exclusively for part-time jobs,
never for full employment. The Germans have a word for that too:
“jobben”, to job. And now we’ve come fully circle…
then maybe you wanna try fahrvergnügen instead?
awwwweeee c’mon guys… I’m always having a good laugh at johnny depp’s name… because depp is the german word for moron… so… if we can laugh at depp, why shouldn’t you laugh at bad design…
its great that the world gives us plenty of reason to laugh just by pointing out some words of some languages…
maybe we should not just discuss everything to death (and yes… I know I’m right now doing just this), but simply laugh while we can.
I thought it was swedish first, would have ment the same thing here.
And I, too, still think it’s funny. I also think it’s funny how the swedish word
sex is both the number six and the most commonly used word for sex.
And Brad Pitt. XD
we’re actually not using the word dachshund – you english speakers made that up
a dachshund is called dackel in german. that doesn’t make it better, I know.
and being german, I have always laughed about this “bad design” issue, because normally you see those signs on really tacky shops, selling bad design anyway. so it fits both interpretations at once.
Fahrvergnügen is an english word? You use Fahrvergnügen in english?
What’s so hard in saying “pleasure of driving”?
Amazing.
das Hamburger
das Pizza
das Computer
Germans steal words too. And they neuter them! ;P
Hamburger is definitely German.
As in the city (town? Street? I need history.) of Hamburg.
Hamburgers may or may not be named after Hamburg, Germany’s second city — nobody knows for sure. But the word appears to have been coined in America.
The nearest thing in German cuisine is a savoury meat patty called “Frikadelle” or, in some regions, “Boulette”.
yesh… we all know hamburgers are made out of soil *cough*
what’s babyoil made of?
frikadelle is danish besides germand don’t even know how to make frikadeller
… aw now i got hungry
frikadelle ist SO german.
never heard of fischfrikadelle?! or a “frikadellenbrötchen”???
frikadelle, from the italian word “frittatella” – means fried meat.
BUT the danish make the BEST Hot dogs EVER!!!!
Hamburger actually comes from “Hamburger Fleisch” meaning meat from Hamburg. An expression that is no longer used in Germany but is originated in the german city of Hamburg. It was a kind of minced meat.
Possibly, but there’s little evidence of that. The strongest theories are that the recipe was indeed brought to the US from Hamburg, Germany, but that it got its name in America (and first called “Hamburg sandwich” or “Hamburger steak”; or that it was actually invented in Hamburg, New York.
I’m tempted to say “etymology fail” here, but, to be fair, your theory is plausible if unlikely. It’s just one of several.
Hmm. Punctuation fail in my last post.
I figure it started off something like “Hamburg style ground beef sandwich” and got shortened over time, more or less the way “Philadelphia style cheese steak sandwich” is being shortened to “Philly”
DER Hamburger
DIE Pizza
DER Computer
Where did you learn we neuter everything, huh?
ich wollts grade sagen…
^^
Hamburger?!? Epic fail! lol!
I’m a Hamburger XDD Wanna try me *rofl*
Well, that would be cannibalistic…
i would say this is a very EPIC FAIL !!!
Ok: first, its DER Hamburger, DIE Pizza und DER Computer. Second, Hamburger derived from a small maet patty which cam from HAMBURG! Laugh! so hamburger came from german (I’m not kidding, there is no ham in a hamburger).Third, Pizza is not from english, its from italy.
it’s
der hamburger and
die Pizza.
“You English people don’t even have a word for kindergarten.”
Don’t know about the English, but we have the word “preschool” in Australia.
Deutschland Uber Alles FAIL.
What’s the Australian word for schadenfreude then?
“Making the English drink Foster’s” would be an acceptable translation.
rofl.
that would be failblog
In America (or at least in California) preschool and kindergarten are different things. Kindergarten is the first year of state-run mandatory school. Preschool is an optional program that comes before that and is used by parents who either want to give their kids a head start or want something a little more structure than just babysitting. Preschool used to be pretty rare, but has become almost expected these days.
kindergarten and preschool (Vorschule) are different things in germany too ;D
…who cares if it actually says something coherent in German? Taken within the context of English, which is what a large number of the people viewing this site speak (BY NO MEANS ALL, of course, before everybody starts flaming me for making generalizations), it’s FUNNY. So let go of your pickle up your ass and laugh.
I agree. That’s not really funny at all. It’s just a bathroom-designer-thing…
Oh, well I guess I really didn’t laugh at it after all. My mistake.
Plus: things like these don’t really fit into the “Engrish” section, as they’re not about any false translations or whatever.
But we’ve been there before…
Actually, this is an example of Denglish, which is not dissimilar to Engrish: it’s the use of anglicisms in German, particularly where strictly unnecessary, and often wrongly: the German word for “design” would be “Gestaltung” — it just doesn’t have the same fancy ring to it.
Sometimes Denglish can be positively Engrish-like when used not to convey meaning, but because “English is cool”, causing hilarity or confusion for foreigners. I’d mention a few examples, but I wouldn’t want to pre-empt anyone.
Design is no Denglish, it’s normal German. “Back-Shop” is Denglish (for bakery)
Now I’ve looked it up, it is indeed a loan word, and so not technically Denglish.
It is, though, amusing.
I know. I’m german myself.
But still, this is neither a translating fail nor exaggerated use of anglicisms. I think “Design” does not fit into the “used because it’s cool”-section, and it is not “unnecessary”. It’s like…dunno, “shop”. It is a ‘normal’ anglicism. Plus, originally it derives from Latin (designare) =D
I agree with what you said about English being used here in Germany not to convey meaning, but to sound fancy – I read something like that today..”Take Kehr for your car”, a slogan for the Kehr-company(something with cars). It sounds horrible. (;
yeah, i don’t think this joke is going to work well with languages that use basically the same alphabet because its going to be legitimate 99% of the time.
I’m actually speechless this time
Wasn’t funny for me since I am german XD
and it’s more like it means bathroom design
I’m from austria… and for me it is funny… funny to see that words you see every day can have such different meanings. but it could be funny for me because I am a funny person… so…
Grüße an meine Lieblingsnachbarn
Too many Germans reading Engrish.
Get your own site – you can call it Dutch or something.
dutch is in fact very funny ^^ (especially after the ate their special cookies)
Denglisch?
lol why when we can just use the english one? plus its not like we’re speaking IN German, (well cept for siobhan)
additionally we should put up poorly translated stuff from movies or commercials, I was sitting in Belgium once, and watched them just butcher every language other than French and Dutch (I know French, and a bit of Dutch).
I wish i could find it on youtube.
Grr.
HA!! The Dutch don’t know wtf American food is. They think American French Fry Sauce is mayonaise with some herbs in it! REAL American french fry sauce is ketchup! hehe They call it American because McDonald’s sells (yes sells… you have to pay for your sauce in Europe… bastards!) the crap.. They only sell it to cater to the Dutchies that thinking eating fries with ketchup is nasty.. Germans at least don’t call something American just because it comes from a major fast food chain.. Speaking Dutch isn’t easy BTW… Now back to your regularly scheduled comments..
somehow this reminds me of a “nice little movie” with john travolta… you sure know which one I’m thinking of, right?
Yeah, that entire speech by Samuel L. Jackson is completely true too, they DO call it a royale with cheese.
As for the sauces, yes you have to pay for most of their exotic ones, but in Belgium the REAL home of the fry mayo and ketchup are free, not that you’d want to have them because they have so many fantastic sauces its hard to count.
The one they call Americain sauce is similar to thousand island, but with raw beef.
they also have one thats fantastic called Samourai sauce, and its as if you mixed sweet and sour, soy and bourbon sauces got mixed with pure fantastic.
also with their fries, Ketchup and mayonnaise are free, but why have those when you can have awesome?
/Rant
Can’t forget the Austrian village we all know and love!
http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/austria.asp
yeah… or “Kotzen”
(means “barf”)
the villages in germay have nice names, really…
hahaha
you get that EVERYWHERE in germany. it gets me all the time.
They must make thermal pods for Lord Whorfin.
Back on-topic.
The other hilarious use of “Bad” in Germany is as part of hotel names reading:
“Bad Hotel”
Must be daunting for foreigners to stay over.
BTW the non English speaking hotel landlord is completely unaware of any other interpretation. Surely you not win the court case for any failings as it was already written in large letters on the wall before you checked in
when i went to holland i saw that hotel through the bus window and took a picture. i’d post it but it doesn’t count as engrish.
HA! This bathroom design studio thingie is on my way XDD I cross it every day!
but why is it always empty? bad design?
Dammit, people? Don’t you get it? It’s only allowed to be funny if it has
early submit fail
Dammit, people? Don’t you get it? It’s only allowed to be funny if it has NOTHING TO DO WITH GERMANY AT ALL. Poking fun at German that happens to have a humorous meaning in English is STRICTLY VERBOTEN.
That is all. The no-fun Polizei are on their way and will strictly enforce this rule.
Well… i am german and i find it funny. But that may be because i am on the run from the no-fun Polizei…
Whenever i visit an english-speaking country and plan on visiting a swimming bath, i pack my towel reading BAD in big letters. Here in germany, it is considered rather dull – over there it is much cooler!
this is not engrish.
Maybe it’s dengrish?
Far as I know ‘chillen’ is denglish. But ‘design’ is english. Germans only use it cause it’s shorter than ‘Gestaltung’. Tell you what: you can get ‘design’ back if you let ‘kindergarten’ go. And on top of that offer you can keep ‘dachshund’ for free!
german, huh… and heres me thinkin it was the guys that did michel jacksons song…. sorry. im bad… and are there rules to this site? i thought it just had to be something funny in english… bad translation or just something with english lettering that looks funny.?
It could be in Norway too, bad = bathroom.