the curious marriage of the shrimp and the cabbage

At breakfast in a hotel in Shaanxi province I was surprised to see this dish on offer. I quickly passed to the next item in the buffet (after taking a pic on my mobile phone). Apparently it says "fried cabbage with shrimp" in chinese

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Comments

.Ashkan says:

who f**ks who? ... what is going on there? :)) Another one of my contacts posts many of these funny notes from China!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Homo olympus says:

Oh..my..GOD!
Well, I am not that surprised really. I know how the educational system 'works' (well, I am from Taiwan, but the system is pretty similar).
Shame! Shame!
Wait, I take that back. This is too funny to be ashamed. Show this to the whole world!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

novon says:

funny
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

dingadingdang says:

Homo Olympus, I believe the chinese character or word for "fry" could be mistaken for the word/character for "f**k" (if the person translating was an idiot), maybe you could confirm?
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Homo olympus says:

I think that the person who translated it into English is either a genius with great imagination or made a mistake that you described above. The third character does mean 'fry.'
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

raemin says:

@@
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

ReadMyLicks says:

I dunno, I think I'd order that item just to see that happen
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

larryfishkorn says:

It almost sounds like a nursery rhyme or something.
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Big Snickers says:

I think I have seen a film called that?
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Plark says:

How I do miss badly translated Chinese...

Excellent.
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

ehoyer says:

ahahahahaha.

good one for the "signs" theme this week
flickr.com/groups/themeoftheweek/

--
Seen in the interestingness archives. (?)
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

-Tracie- says:

So funny! Too bad it's blurry.

from the Theme of the Week Group
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

dingadingdang says:

Yeah I know, I was away on business and only had my crappy mobile camera with me, shame really
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

mattjsaw says:

i'm lol'ing in my seat.
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

chuha says:

Brings another new perspective on the American Pie/Portnoy's Complaint scene with people, sex acts and food.
And I gotta think the translator was no idiot, but a genius!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Newleaf says:

Just another Chinese dish I seem to have missed...
rom the Theme of the Week Group
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Jian Wang Halifax says:

Oh no! haha... what a creation!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

darkcolor045 says:

┗(￣▽￣ㆀ)┓=3........虾干炒白菜.......
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

UnoLobo says:

secret sauce? great catch, should be a postcard.
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

DaveSinclair says:

that is hilarious!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

janekeeler says:

i live in korea, so i see a lot of hilarious mis-translations on a daily basis, but this takes the cake!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Esther17 says:

Nothing like a little shrimp and cabbage porn to liven up your lunch!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

-ally says:

XD
Thats is almost as good as that translation from "NOOOOoooo!!" to "DO NOT WANT!!" in the latest Star Wars movie. (translated back to english from the chineese subtitles).
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Jim Skea says:

Hilarious. We get badly translated menus here in Brazil too, but not that badly
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

!!stefan (SH) says:

omg. one of the best translations i've seen so far :)
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

Ioan Sameli says:

That's really horrible :(
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

dingadingdang says:

I believe it tasted great!!!
Posted 40 months ago. ( permalink )

raincontreras says:

Oi Craig, your photo got BoingBoing'd! Tsk tsk. You're a Flickr celeb now... just like Ya Ya. Haha.
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

dingadingdang says:

ahhh that'll explain the extra 1500 views today! eeeh wait till I tell my mum!
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

dingadingdang says:

sorry, make that 3000!
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

Funky Myth says:

hahahahahaha, very funny!

This is a Great shot (you are invited to join Commentplease! group)
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

jdcb42 says:

4 months later a tasty (but very small) shrimp and cabbage roll is born...

Please consider adding this to:

Me Fail English? That's unpossible
Posted 39 months ago. ( permalink )

chlhktw says:

"Homo Olympus, I believe the chinese character or word for "fry" could be mistaken for the word/character for "f**k" (if the person translating was an idiot), maybe you could confirm?"

Well, well, well. I'll try to give the explanation.
For your info, the KEY word is not "fry", but "dry" or "dried" ! (denoted by "干" on the menu).
The actual menu was "Cabbage fried with dried shrimp"
Incidentally, "dry" as a verb also mean "do" in slang or more forcefully "f**k" in Mandarine (or Putunghua)!

Similar translation on Chinese menu can also be cited in other photos in Flickr, for example:

"F**k to fry the cow river" (i.e. Flat rice noodle dry fried with beef) in "Chinese Food Menu" uploaded by "Funky Myth";

"Fry the fish to f**k" (i.e. Fried small dried fish) in "Chaozhou - Restaurant Menu (hahaha) " uploaded by "offordscott"

"F**k the ginger water" (i.e. Ginger ale, also called "dried ginger water" in Chinese) in "Very Special Ginger Ale" uploaded by "xiaming"

I'm sure there are more of such around in this big country!
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

Chinglish Termininator says:

"chao(炒)(fry), which has d similar pronounciation as "cao(操)"(means "f" word in Chinese), I guess d guy who translated this might hear some foreigners misprononce those two words, who came out of this "perfect" translation of the sentence.
Posted 38 months ago. ( permalink )

Linus, Joy of Man's Desiring says:

There is something poetic about it...
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

topquark22 says:

Great explanation. You are hereby invited to submit this photo to the Bad Menus pool. Thanks!!
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

The Singapore Idler says:

this is one F**king dish!
Posted 36 months ago. ( permalink )

cherokeed says:

sounds complicated, doomed
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

هائو رن says:

this must be machine translation, where it translated "干" to "f.." when it should be "fried".
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

clovermania11 says:

geez...this's brilliant.
Posted 35 months ago. ( permalink )

♥ chi chi ♥ says:

tehehehe
Posted 34 months ago. ( permalink )

robynw! says:

what a great sign to cheer me up on yet another shitty work day
Posted 34 months ago. ( permalink )

Maura666 says:

OMG. This is too hilarious. (I'd order this, just so that I could tell someone I ate a cabbage-fucking shrimp for lunch!)
Posted 33 months ago. ( permalink )

adfujie says:

太好笑乐。。。
Posted 32 months ago. ( permalink )

Ray Tomes says:

Priceless.

I was so taken with the funny chinglesh signs that I made a blog web page about them:ray.tomes.biz/b2/index.php/c/2007/04/26/ching lish_funny_s...
Posted 32 months ago. ( permalink )

goandgetnohappy says:

engrish is the best
Posted 32 months ago. ( permalink )

billadler says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called 1-2-3 Signs, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

baydance says:

As long as they are both consenting adults, I don't see a problem with that
Posted 29 months ago. ( permalink )

jellywatson says:

You don't fuck the shrimp. The shrimp fucks YOU.

hilarious
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

qsong says:

It might be a gimmick, since most people would be curious.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

M00k says:

cheerful translation :D
babelfish shrimp
Posted 18 months ago. ( permalink )

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Taken on August 13, 2006
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the curious marriage of the shrimp and the cabbage

Comments

.Ashkan says:

Homo olympus says:

novon says:

dingadingdang says:

Homo olympus says:

raemin says:

ReadMyLicks says:

larryfishkorn says:

Big Snickers says:

Plark says:

ehoyer says:

-Tracie- says:

dingadingdang says:

mattjsaw says:

chuha says:

Newleaf says:

Jian Wang Halifax says:

darkcolor045 says:

UnoLobo says:

DaveSinclair says:

janekeeler says:

Esther17 says:

-ally says:

Jim Skea says:

!!stefan (SH) says:

Ioan Sameli says:

dingadingdang says:

raincontreras says:

dingadingdang says:

dingadingdang says:

Funky Myth says:

jdcb42 says:

chlhktw says:

Chinglish Termininator says:

Linus, Joy of Man's Desiring says:

topquark22 says:

The Singapore Idler says:

cherokeed says:

هائو رن says:

clovermania11 says:

♥ chi chi ♥ says:

robynw! says:

Maura666 says:

adfujie says:

Ray Tomes says:

goandgetnohappy says:

billadler says:

baydance says:

jellywatson says:

qsong says:

M00k says:

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