I went shopping last Sunday and bought a cutting mat made of PVC where you may use it as a protective board for cutting papers etc. Here is the story.
The shop I bought it from is called Daiso. I was curious the meaning of the name of the shop. I posted an update in Facebook asking my friends what was the meaning of daiso. I got two good answers. [FB #1=Facebook friend number 1, FB #2=Facebook friend number 2]
I asked: Do u know what daiso means?
FB #1 answered: sister in law –eldest…
I answered: Initially I thought it is “big stupid” read in Cantonese
FB #2: u r not wrong. sister in law and big stupid both of them almost sound the same in cantonese.
daiso – eldest sister in law
daisoh – big stupid
The shop cannot mean “eldest sister in law” or “big stupid” I think. So I do some Google-ing and found out that actual meaning of daiso in Japanese is 粗 (だいそ）means course (the opposite of fine, used to describe the size of particles).
In Japan, 100 yen (“hyakkin” in Japanese) shops, or one-coin shops, similar to dollar stores in the United States and pound shops in the U.K., are commonly known as “hyakkin”. Daiso is a major player in the 100 yen shop industry – so much so that its name has become synonymous with “hyakkin”. There are a few Daiso shops in Malaysia with all items selling at RM5.00 (which is more expensive than 100 yen = RM3.67)
Coming to the story of mind your Engrish please!
The cutting mat is a PVC mat which protect your table top from cutting marks when you are cutting some papers or documents, as shown.
These are the writings of printed on the wrapping plastic paper:
“When cutting the paper by sword, as the mat which is used and material is P.V.C
Please do not place close heat of fire and direct sunlight hits.
Please do not bend it longtime and put in place heavy or hot things.
Do not use for any other purposes.
Dispose of according to the waste disposal classification by each municipality.”
Do you see that only one sentence is grammatically correct while others will make you laugh! I was thinking do we cut paper using sword?
Who do you think is the translator or copywriter? It is either the Japanese or the Korean as the product is made in Korea?
Ready for some good “Engrish” from other parts of the world? You may visit some of the websites below.
http://engrishfunny.failblog.org/
http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2009/01/singapore-engri.php
Anyway the Daiso shop is located at Mutiara Damansara inside the Curve shopping complex as shown below. Daiso is NOT “big stupid” but the above example almost make me “vomit blood”!
So always mind your Engrish , pliss. Oops, did I say “Mind your English, please!” correctly?
P/S Today is the national day of Malaysia. Happy Merdeka!
Tags: cutting, cutting mat, daiso, daisoh, English, Engrish, Facebook, hyakkin, mat, mind your english
