Comments on: Fair warning

By: Kreuzfahrten

Kreuzfahrten — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:51:45 +0000

I don’t disagree with you!

By: champions league T20

champions league T20 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:35:14 +0000

Probably this blogs best article online!!!

By: protection asset

protection asset — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:28:03 +0000

what does it mean?

By: Outlaw Jessie

Outlaw Jessie — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:46:23 +0000

Not Engrish as it’s clearly not English – but oh lord the caption made me spit coffee on my screen when I figured out the sign!

By: Crusty

Crusty — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:00:29 +0000

Well that was easy.
Low German is still spoken in Frysia, the coast area of Lower Saxony

By: Ellise

Ellise — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:07:16 +0000

Yes, this is from Tallinn, Estonia.
It translates to “Peep in the Kitchen” (more or less)…The tower was tall enough that people said one could look into the kitchen windows of homes in the area.
We were trying to express how funny this was to our Estonian friend…by the time we explained it is wasn’t very funny.
By the Way Tallinn is a city definitely worth visiting.

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:01:21 +0000

Here You are, I copied from the museum`s homesite: The cannon tower Kiek in de Kök was founded in 1475-1483. The name was first recorded in the description of the second siege of Tallinn in 1577 as Kyck in de Kaeken, later on several forms of the same name were used, such as Kik (Kyk) in de Kok, Kiek in die Küche, Pulffer-Thurm Giecken Köck. In 1696 the present name Kiek in de Kök was also mentioned, meaning “peek into the kitchen” in Low German. And true enough, it was possible to watch what the enemy was doing in their “kitchen” i.e. on position lower down from the about 38m-high tower.
Greets from Estonia!

By: Tordsworld

Tordsworld — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:42:04 +0000

There’s also “TITTI DISPENSER”

By: s3cx

s3cx — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 22:32:43 +0000

It’s about the only Engrish upload that involves a correct use of a language, not an English misspelling. Raudpolt fail.

By: Arko

Arko — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:55:17 +0000

It’s Estonian, historical site, that name isn’t Estonian but others are, before u start putting ”fail” on things then google it before ok? its more like a fail from the uploader

By: Oudekki

Oudekki — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:43:06 +0000

The name Kiek in de Kök, indeed in Low German, meaning “peek into the kitchen” was first used in 1696: according to the Linnamuuseum site, because it was possible to the enemy was doing in its “kitchen” (lower down from the tower around 40 meters)…

By: crazy_lady

crazy_lady — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:47:25 +0000

oh I TOTALLY agree. This is maybe in estonia, south africa or wherever. It may totally fail the ‘Engrish’ test…. BUT… this one had tears rolling down my face. Yes, I think it’s really funny too.
Maybe it’s because, being female also, I totally agree with you dr_handle

By: Mari

Mari — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:24:15 +0000

It’s not Finnish, maybe Estonian like someone already pointed out. But one could easily be mistaken if not a native speaker – the two languages are a lot alike.

By: Jonas

Jonas — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:56:12 +0000

“supposed TO BE” even..

By: NorwegianNurse

NorwegianNurse — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:10:14 +0000

Not Engrish. FAIL.

By: jamar

jamar — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:06:06 +0000

Ahhh, counter-intuitive pronounciation rules- “Churk”?

By: callitak

callitak — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:33:07 +0000

if(Language != English) {
Language = Fail;
}

GTFO.

By: dd

dd — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:11:09 +0000

FAIL! It is Low German/Low Saxon which was a lingua franca in the Hanseatic League.

By: Mario.

Mario. — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:26:18 +0000

Dear commenteers!
You are one illiteracy win!

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:17:00 +0000

I’ve been there!!!

By: Precision

Precision — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:01:13 +0000

What it reallt means is “Take a look to the kitchen”. There is a story about the name, how you could look to an kitchen, where something dont remember what was happening. It’s like a legend. And it’s danish or german.

By: s3cx

s3cx — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:38:07 +0000

WIN!

By: gregor

gregor — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:19:46 +0000

Gee, Vee, I’m sorry, I was just trying to make a funny with a play on words… I mean, that’s what Engrish Funny is all about, isn’t it?
Just for you, I’ll try to be a little less sophomoric in the future, ok?

By: B3llit0

B3llit0 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:59:31 +0000

Yes, I know it’s not Swedish, but the correct pronunciation does not sound like what you may think.

By: B3llit0

B3llit0 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:57:20 +0000

Only funny if you don’t know that it’s pronounced more like “keek een deh CHURK”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_phonology

By: tordsworld

tordsworld — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:18:00 +0000

The word “coq” is rooster in french.

By: Mindflick

Mindflick — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:04:12 +0000

It must be, because in the dialect they speak here in the east of Holland you would say: “Kiek in de kökn”, that’s like almost the same
The dialect is called Tweants which has a lot in common with Low German.

By: FaILmAsTer

FaILmAsTer — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:53:01 +0000

DO NOT WANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: dr_handle

dr_handle — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:15:09 +0000

We come to this site, and have a giggle AND get educated. How good is that?

By: vee

vee — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:00:56 +0000

not a street, neither it’s after obama. i know you tryed to be funny but it just failed.

By: anonymus

anonymus — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:59:51 +0000

it is called that because you can see in the near-by houses kitchen.
At leas you could when Tallinn was as big as the old town.

By: livvyjane

livvyjane — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:21:54 +0000

Ahhh…I’m sure I would laugh my head off If I knew what it said…. =D

By: gregor

gregor — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:42:46 +0000

So, someone finally named a street after Obama…

By: By-Tor

By-Tor — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:02:58 +0000

hai! according to german wikipedia, “kiek in de kök” (“look inside the kitchen”) is a low german expression for a tower, a building so tall you can look inside the kitchens of the inhabitants of the city. this one here is lo(l)cated at tallinn, estonia.

By: Swede

Swede — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:51:00 +0000

The word kök is also kitchen in swedish.

By: Kyo

Kyo — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:29:45 +0000

that explains why everything else on the sign is seeming to be from near the Finland like the Baltic States, something like that.

Medieval German is quite a possibility, the meaning was easy for me to unveil since I’m a native German speaker.

So the guard tower, does he face/ look/ “kiek” to the sea, the land or over Talinn? Which of these might be the Kök, the kitchen?! Talinn as a melting pot? I’d like to find out.

By: ObscureWittyReference

ObscureWittyReference — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:49:41 +0000

Another suburban family morning!

By: ObscureWittyReference

ObscureWittyReference — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:48:43 +0000

Seconded.

By: Marit from Tallinn

Marit from Tallinn — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:12:41 +0000

I’d never thought I’d see a picture of my hometown here, but wow!

By: wozzle

wozzle — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:10:25 +0000

WIN!

By: LaEscopeta

LaEscopeta — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:42:03 +0000

…Many miles away
Something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch.

By: LaEscopeta

LaEscopeta — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:39:23 +0000

And every meeting with his so-called superior
Is an humiliating Kiek in de Kok…

By: ponder

ponder — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:32:23 +0000

for the record…it is plaatdeutsch (a lovely mangled mix of german, dutch, some english and way too many vowels), spoken in the far north of germany (although not so much these days)

By: dr_handle

dr_handle — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:25:49 +0000

I don’t care whether it’s strictly Engrish – I think it’s funny. Of course, being female, the idea is probably a lot funnier to me than it is to males.

By: dr_handle

dr_handle — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:24:14 +0000

… you’re kidding, right?

By: booboololbla

booboololbla — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:04:10 +0000

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL… estonia xD

By: Admad

Admad — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:59:41 +0000

Whatever, looking at some of these comments it looks like a SOH FAIL.

By: Opid

Opid — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:13:02 +0000

It actually is from Tallinn, Estonia.
It is the name of an old guard tower in the old city.

If my mind isn’t failing me the name comes from medieval german.

What I do fail though is to see what’s funny about it.

By: Pierre

Pierre — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:55:44 +0000

The rest of the signs seem to be in finnish

By: nozz

nozz — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:41:36 +0000

yeah, definitely low-german: my nanna says things like that. she’s kinda old school that way;)