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Has Achieved Nirvana |
I got a meat slicer for my birthday. It’s made by “OSTBA”. In the instructions they explain that it stands for “Only Sell The Best Appliance”. When I rode street bikes I wore leathers made by the Japanese company Kushitani. Very high quality stuff. Their slogan was “We are fond of racer’s spirit”. The best one though, was when I bought Greg a bicycle for Christmas. The first instruction read “Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind.” And so it did. 
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Minor Deity |
Reminds me nostalgically of the "good old days" when major manufacturers took real pride in the quality of their companies' products. When they wanted the company name to stand for quality. What a sad turn of affairs when quality control is non-existent (except to the extent their legal departments tell them they have to for liability purposes). That was before they made a substantial portion of their products on extended warrantees.  Maybe the old pride of product still exists overseas, at least in some* countries' ownership (especially Japan?). *Specifying the home base, since scarcely any products aren't manufactured with parts from numerous countries - and/or manufactured all over the place.
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity  |
Random Japanese-English catch copy on random items is the best thing on the planet. This was a recent one that gave me a chuckle:  I think I need a box like that for my students to turn in their homework assignments... When is the homework due? When will my grade be available? Since when, until when. 
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Is that a translation from a common Japanese phrase?
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity |
Nope. That's what makes the random Englishes so good, it's often impossible to figure how they got what they ended up with. Of course there are some that are just direct translations in all their glory. Like this one, direct translations and very glorious: 
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity |
Ok, regarding this , I should clarify, this phrase can easily be translated into Japanese. And it is as empty of meaning in Japanese as it is in English. It's just random. I think I need it on a t-shirt.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
I had a Russian literature professor in college, an older Russian woman, who would regularly use the phrase “and here now then will be what?” Students would scramble trying to figure out what she was asking for. Some observation on Eugene Onegin’s relationship with Tatyana? A prediction of where the story is going next? Something more ethereal? It was just her way of saying ”so…”. Translated word-for-word back into Russian, it is just as meaningless.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
My favorite Engrish is the phrase “let’s get along with me”.
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| Foregoing Practicing to Post Minor Deity  |
I heard of a supermarket in Buffalo, NY years ago named FIGMOS. It stood for: Finally I Got My Own Supermarket.”
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