This column aims to identify Chinglish in public areas. If you see any Chinglish signs, please send a picture of it to wangyu2008@ynet.com together with your name and address.
By Tiffany Tan
This one was easy to guess although I had to check the Chinese writing to be sure. Still, I was stunned for a minute; it’s not every day you go window shopping and come face to face with a tag hat says, “fire flash.” The words sounded so ominous and so out of place inside a trendy clothing store – I felt like I had to do something dramatic.Well, the English translation should have said “flammable,” which ans “capable of being easily ignited.he warning in Chinese says, “Because the product’s surface contains fuzzy material, please do not bring it close to fireworks.” It sounds funny, but shoppers should take it serily – especially since three months down the road is Spring Festival, where people are hoping to see a fireworks extravaganza that will top this year’s colorful, magical, awesome welcome to a new lunar year. Besides, if multimillion-dollar landmark building can become a giant torch, how much more a small, helpless sweater. Bad bad bad fireworks!
I cannot figure out how the writer came up with “fire flash.” Maybe as a result of a visuization technique? All fires start from a spark, and a “spark” and a “flash” look the same? Or maybe he or she was trying to have fun with synonyms? Let us know if you have the answer.
