But, even though we have no right to judge (especially as TNT’s editor admits to saying ‘I am an ice cream’ when attempting to order in France), we can’t help but find it hilarious when translations go wrong. Even better when its there in black and white. The following misusages have been spotted on signs around the world…
In a Rome laundry:
Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time
In a Tokyo bar:
Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts
In a Paris hotel:
Please leave your values at the front desk
On a detour sign in Japan:
Stop: Drive Sideways
In a hotel room in Cambodia:
Sorry for guests who have problem, and thank for guests who have no problem
In a Norwegian lounge:
Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar
In a Japanese hotel:
You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid
In a Bangkok dry cleaners:
Drop your trousers here for best results
In an Athens hotel:
Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11am daily
In a Viennese hotel:
In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter
In a German maternity ward:
No children allowed in the maternity ward
In a doctor’s surgery in Rome:
Specialist in women and other diseases
In the lobby of a Bucharest hotel:
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable
In an Acapulco hotel a sign read
The manager has personally passed all the water served here
On the door of a Mexico hotel room:
If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.
On a box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong:
Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life
In a Thai advertisement for donkey rides:
We have our own ass if you would like to take a ride
In a Copenhagen airline ticket office:
We take your bags and send them in all directions
Outside a Paris couturier:
Dresses for streetwalking
In a German lift:
Do not enter the lift backwards and only when lit up
For visitors to the Czech Republic:
Take one of our horse-driven city tours: we guarantee no miscarriages
In a Hong Kong dress-shop:
Ladies may have a fit upstairs
In a Yugoslavian hotel:
The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid
On a sign posted in Germany’s Black Forest:
It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose
In the window of a Swedish furrier:
Fur coats made for ladies from their own skin
In a Bangkok temple:
It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man
Adam Jacot de Boinod was a researcher for the first BBC television series QI, hosted by Stephen Fry. He wrote The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from around the World, published by Penguin Books and created the App Tingo, an iPhone Game about Interesting Words