Italian Stores

Here in the land of sunshine and azure blue waters almost all stores have become temporary!

But, it does make good sense if you're selling seasonal or end-run products.

Paul, I have a number of pics of stores where the names are a little strange to native anglophones:

1) A women's fashion store in St. Denis, France named "Pussy Club".
2) A shoe store in Chinon, France where the owner's name is "F. Moron". You could imagine what the "F" stood for but I suspect it wasn't anything that couldn't be said in polite public.
3) A general tourist trap store in Paris named "Chewing Gum". No gum was available in the store.

Anyone else who has traveled have others?

KDP--excellent entries in the genre!

I've got one from Scotland OPTICAL EXPRESS | DENTAL CLINIC. Then, there's a blast from the American past a WOOLWORTHS bold as day.

Expat, Woollies used to be all over the UK.

Our favorite ones are a jewelry store on the Mariahilferstraße in Vienna, called Wanko's Tochter, and a general beach resort clothing store in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, called Knickers. Which wouldn't be so bad, except the store's slogan was "A great place to poke around in." We gave my kid sister a bag with that on it, and she used it as her book bag for school for quite a while.

Interesting, I guess China is not the only country that tortures the English language to hilarious extents. Shame on you Scot, what grade was she in?

So why do other countries use (usually incorrectly) english words for the names of stores? I don't notice the same here in America. However, there are plenty of supposed english speakers who torture their own language. You even hear it from "professional" journalists sometimes.

Ah, Todd. I believe that it has to do with the appeal of being cool to be able to use English. A common failing in using a second language is usually the grammar. The words may be correct as far as the concepts they convey, but the order usually gives a different meaning.

I once saw a French pub sign "La tete qui brule" which, literally translated means "The Burning Head". Doesn't make much sense translated that way but its usual French meaning is "fever" or, in this case, I would translate it as "hangover". A subtle play on words.

Again, you should go to the Engrish.com site and have a few laughs. The owner of that site has a very good explanation of how Engrish / Chinglish works - much better than I can explain it.

Patty, she was 19, in a local college.

Engrish.com is one of my regular morning stops.