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So there I was at the pharmacy a few days ago, when this came tumbling out of my wallet. I know I'm not one of those big-time bloggers who has thousands of fans all over the globe on watch for information, but I am very blessed with a few good friends who immediately think of me upon encountering the absurd. I think that that's a compliment... Anyway, this one was given to me by our good friend Ricky when we visited him months ago, and is simply so small that I forgot all about it. He found it in his Kosher meal on an airplane, and thoughtfully saved it for me:
So not to kvetch, but I don't like how the potassium and the sorbate don't line up - it gives me a small headache. I'm also not a great fan of the ingredients casually becoming comments: "colored with beta carotene" does not, in my mind, belong in the same list as "soybean oil." But those are small potatoes compared to the whopper in the middle, right?
I mean, I vaguely recall some law from way back when that if an ingredient comprised less than 2% of a product, it didn't need to be listed. That may or may not still be true. But 48%? This isn't claiming 52% fat free, or 52% natural, or 52% butter, or whatever. This is claiming 52% spread - ostensibly the end product! What the heck else is in there?
Oh, unless maybe the other 48% is unwhipped? I think we may just have to call up the folks at Mehadrin and find out...
Here's a quickie - forwarded to me from the "Efrat Chat" email list:
Wow. There's plenty to comment on here (and feel free to do so) but what made me laugh the most is that the price for waxing is per leg. Come on, is there a very serious market for doing only one?
As for "steticist," I wasn't sure what that was. I googled it, and discovered that although it doesn't seem to be a word in English, about 195 non-native English speakers seem to think it is. I then put my advanced Googler on the job, and the verdict is: maybe they're trying to say Esthetician?
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Oh, funny you should ask!
Last year I was at Shavua HaSefer, Israel's yearly Book Week. During Shavua HaSefer, books are on sale all over the country, and at a few choice locations, entire book fairs featuring Israeli publishers are set up. We of course found ourselves walking around the fair in Jerusalem, going from stand to stand. The names of the publishers were clearly marked on signs above the stands, but come on, who really cares about the publisher? We mostly just kept our eyes on the books on the tables.
After a while, I got to a table at the far end of the fair. After looking at a few books, I realized that at this table, the name of the publisher actually was an interesting point, and so I looked up. "Oh!" I exclaimed after seeing the sign, and I began to explain my intrigue to the woman "manning" the stand.
It's pretty silly, really. The publisher was "Toby Press." I had heard that it existed, but never actually come across their books. I know, what's the big deal for it to be named Toby, but for someone named Toby, just trust me that it's a big deal. Toby is an awfully uncommon name - I grew up always being the one who couldn't find her name on any of those keychain racks, and rational or not, I get a kick out of seeing evidence that I'm not the only Toby on the planet.
So it was fun to see the books; the woman and I shared a good chuckle, and I didn't buy anything. I slid over to the next stand, looked for a second and a half, and audibly said, "No way!" But yes - I looked up at that sign, and it was true. I had reached the well-known Koren publishing house's stand. "So what?" I hear you cry. Well, the name Curwin didn't work out too well in Hebrew, being as Hebrew doesn't have the letter w. So a couple of weeks after we moved here, we "Hebraized" our name - we took out the w, and were left with Koren, which is an actual (and lovely) name in Hebrew.
Anyway, get it? The signs, put together, had my full name: Toby Koren! It was so silly, and of course Dave made me take a picture:
It's not a terribly flattering picture, so I've always been hesitant to post it here. But I realized that just the top part (without me) really couldn't be a better header for someone named Toby Koren who blogs about signs... so I put it up. Better late than never!As a short postscript: check out this post by Maya, the writer of a great blog that I recently found. Really funny stuff, and totally true!
Here's one I've had waiting in the wings for a while. There's not much introduction necessary - I just want to remind you all: we've seen in the past that Israeli sign-makers occasionally find it appropriate (and do know how) to use exclamation points, graphics, and scary warnings in order to get their point across. And yet, on this sign that we pass on the way from Jerusalem to Efrat, apparently none of those was needed:
It always reminds me of that scene in the original Willy Wonka movie, where Mr. Wonka is sarcastically attempting to get Mike Teevee back to safety. He says, expressionlessly, "No. Wait. Stop. Come back."
Remember? It was a great scene. But that was a movie - this is a little scary. I mean, it's a landslide, for crying out loud! Shouldn't we all be screaming in fear?
My verdict: this sign needs to care just a bit more. Put a little feeling into it - please?
A friend of ours was over a couple of weeks ago, and she told me about a sign that she sees frequently. So funny! We agreed that we would both try to go by and photograph it soon. And then, this morning, I found that Benji had caught it first. Good thing it's not a race; his photo of this astonishingly funny sign can be found here.
If I'm already linking to funny things, here's a joke by Ruti that had me laughing all morning.
And here's an interesting article that I happened across later this afternoon - I had seen this certificate hung up in various places, but I didn't understand exactly what it was about. Very enlightening, and enlightened!
Enjoy!
What's that? You say I need to post something of my own? Okay, fine - here's a printscreen of some spam I received a couple of weeks ago. It certainly doesn't warrant its own post, but is entertaining nonetheless:
Why is bad grammar a common denominator of spam?
Yesterday was Lag BaOmer, the thirty-third day that we come across when counting the days between Passover and Shavuot. The most common Lag BaOmer custom here in Israel is to enjoy a bonfire with your friends. Bonfires mean hotdogs and marshmallows, and that's how I came across this package:
Innocent enough, right? Silly caricatures, nice and appealing. Then we look to the other side, find the usual mishaps...
No big deal, right? And then I got to this part, which I suppose, technically, makes sense, but struck me as quite hilarious nonetheless:
Forget about the sirop and the potentially hazardous colorings. Are we not all singing Donovan at this point?
A few weeks ago, I bumped into some friends who reported seeing a funny sign as they were driving through Beit Shemesh. A couple of days later, a coworker of mine told me that my favorite grocery store chain, Supersol (Shufersal in Hebrew, but that's a whole different story) now has a branch open in Beit Shemesh! And so, not long after, I found myself in Beit Shemesh, saying to the kids, "okay, we're looking for two signs: one says Supersol and one says car woosh. Let's see which one we can find first..."
Lo and behold, my sleuthing team found them both! I still prefer my Jerusalem branch of Supersol, but the sign was great:
Good stuff.
