Tsfat - Say Cheeze!

I don't know how many of you are aware of my other, prettier blog, but I do have one! I started it a little over a year and a half ago, initially because I wanted an outlet to show my mother all the beautiful things that I see on a daily basis. But on my very first post, Leora introduced me to the world of photoblog memes, and I'm officially addicted. I'm now on a constant search for interesting shadows to post on Sundays, good close-ups to post on Mondays, red items for Ruby Tuesdays, architecture for Wednesdays, and of course, nice sky shots for Fridays. Just ask my poor, neglected family how much of my time I spend "just posting one thing," or pulling off to the side of the road to get a shot of something that won't wait. Of course, you're all invited to check it out on a regular basis, if you like! Ah, but I digress. 


The point was supposed to be this: for the last few Wednesdays, I've been posting pretty photos of various windows and doors that we found in Tsfat over this past summer, during a few hours that we spent there. There are some gorgeous things in Tsfat, and even though we weren't there for long, I took an awful lot of photos. Anyway, while looking through them all to find the shots of windows and doors, I came across a few funny signs, too. For example:

Is that a command? Get going, Avni!

Whenever I try to say that one out loud, it seems to adopt an Italian accent, I'm not sure why... 


And now, for my favorite:

It's true, I know that Safed is technically one of the many acceptable spellings of Tsfat. But the cheeze really had me smiling here! And when you put the safed next to the cheeze, it's even better! I'm envisioning some very secure cheeze, all locked up in shackles :)


That's all for now, folks - have a great week! And, to stick with our theme, do go check out Lesley's meme - Signs, Signs, to see interesting signage from all over the world! Have a great week, everyone!

A little help from my friends - the final episode (for now)

Okay, then, here is the last one. I really mean it! Yes, I know that I've been saying the same thing for the last few weeks, but really, this is it. Here's the last group of funny photos submitted to me from over a year ago. Then we can move on to posting the more recent ones :)


Nothing to it but to do it!


Here's a great sign from Dena, my ever-loyal sign scout:

That one reminds me of the way my kids occasionally speak. I remember once when they were much younger, and someone was in someone else's way, one of my kids said, annoyed, "You're making me not have any space!!" To which I thought - yeah, all those words technically make sense, but a native English speaker would just say, "You're squishing me!!" Likewise, yes, "merge" and "fit together" are pretty much the same thing. But - really? That's what you wanted to write, out here in front of everyone? Hmm. Anyway, thanks Dena!


Number two in today's lineup - from Ricky, my good friend and contributor:

Okay, the obvious mistake here also isn't such an obvious one to non-English speakers. We don't say trousers, we say pairs of trousers, right? But what I find to be much funnier here is that they claim to be the leading producers of laundry. I thought that they're supposed to produce the clean clothing, while we customers provide the laundry, no? I mean, are they going to charge us for unprecedented amounts of stained clothing? Interesting - maybe I should try making money like that...


Here are some menu bloopers sent to me by one of my very best virtual friends, Mirj:

Various typos, strange translations, misplaced apostrophes, random capitalization - what can I say? Velcome to Izrayel!


And here's a crazy one from Rachel, who presents us with this one. The product is a cool idea - twist ties on demand. But what the heck is going on with the packaging? (The picture is split into two halves, but you get the idea.)

Embroider? Prick? I feel like Inigo Montoya, from the Princess Bride, who said, in one of his very best lines, You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Oh, and look, continuing with the Inigo theme, here at the bottom we have a sword! The sword seems to be closest to its actual meaning - I mean, the place where one cuts the twist ties is sharp, like a sword, right? (Whereas I'm still not clear on what the embroider is referring to.) But here's another funny thing - presuming that embroider, prick and sword were exactly the words they were going for, apparently they didn't even know where the sword was supposed to go :) (Guys! It's to the left!)


Well, I think that's all, folks! Please join us again next week for your regular installment of funny signage mistakes, mostly seen here in Israel, the land I love. Have a great week, in the meantime! 


Oh, and don't forget to check out Lesley's meme, Signs, Signs, if you'd like to see more sign-oriented photography! Some of it is really interesting, and even beautiful - it's worth a visit!

A little help from my friends - the saga continues...

Well, we're almost caught up. And by that, I mean that I'm almost done putting up all the funny things sent in before a year ago!  After that, we'll go back to our regularly scheduled programming, with one post per week. Unless, of course, I get flooded with more entries (hint hint)!


Anyway, let's jump in! First, how about this snazzy flyer that our good buddy Shlomo got in the mail:

Is that offensive to Poles? I apologize if any of you are upset, that wasn't my intention. If any of the rest of you are in the market for some vaks, please contact Shlomo, to get the phone number on his flyer.


Check out this cool sweatshirt that Safranit found for sale in Katzrin!

Wow. I remember back in high school, I had a t-shirt that said "brush your teeth regularly" in Russian. The idea was that anything written in Russian was automatically cool... well, at least, according to a few of us. Somehow, I get the impression that the motivation here was similar - it's got some letters, they look like English - yalla, put it on the rack, we'll be rich! I sure hope my t-shirt didn't have as many typos... 


Here's a funny one from our longtime fan and contributor, Gidon:

Um. What? Come again? Oh, maybe they're trying to entice us to come in so we can find out what the heck they're talking about??


And here's one more from Gidon. I like this one even more!

Ha! That one is just excellent. If the drivers won't pay attention, maybe we can at least get the street signs to notice! That's good optimism on the part of City Hall, I say. 


You know, I still have four more to post! I think I'll save them for next week, since Dave really wants me to share these two things with you that he came across this past week - both very funny. Here's the first one, although this is in Hebrew - I promise, I'll explain:

That's from the HaAretz newspaper last Friday. It's the usual "what time to light Shabat candles" box found in the corner of Jewish publications worldwide, except that it lists the weekly portion as "Parashat Blah Blah." Oy! I guess whoever was working on it decided to be cute until they had time to look up which weekly portion was due to be read, and then they just never got back to it. From what I understand, people are highly offended, and HaAretz is being sued. Hilarious! 


And two, far less Jewish, and equally hilarious:

As The Media Blog commented: It is a little surprising that the reporter didn't think to check. "Crikey, that's a lot of a pigs mate, are you sure you mean 30,000?". Similarly, if they really thought there were 30,000 pigs floating down the river, why did they only put it on page 11? That would be Biblical!


Wow! That was a good week. Don't forget, I'm submitting this to Lesley's meme, Signs, Signs.Go check it out now, for more intriguing signage from all over the world! And have a fantastic week, all of you!

Help from my friends - Episode II

Last week, I had planned to post all of those signs and labels from way back that had been sent to me by loyal readers everywhere. That is, until I realized that I'm lucky enough to have way too many for a single post! And so, with no further ado: here's the second installment of my A Little Help From My Friends post:

This one is from our good friend Ariel. (Remember Ariel?) In case you can't see all of the small print, she was sweet enough to give us some close-ups:

and here:

Wow - every line here is a jewel! The obvious winner on the laugh-meter would be amazing visual convulsion, just because it's got convulsion in there, but I think my personal favorite might actually be It can take your endless fun! That sounds to me like something parents can really relate to. Whichever you choose - thank you, Ariel!


Next up:

That funny one is from our good friend Ricky. Your average Wii game system isn't nearly as forthcoming and friendly as this one that he found. Would you like to play? Wi Wi!

I thought I had a hard time explaining English spelling to my Israeli kids. Now Mirj has found a whole new concept to throw us off: silent g! Unfair, I tell you. How are we possibly supposed to remember all of these complicated rules?! But she saw it at the airport, so it must be right. Sigh.

Our friend Ari found this one, right outside Jerusalem's Old City. The thing is, as those who can read and understand Hebrew can testify, this wasn't intended to be a sign about noise pollution, but rather: No Parking. Oops. Well, maybe it's better this way - it's become a two-for-one sign.




Believe it or not, I still have a few more! But that's okay, they'll wait for another week. Meanwhile, I want to finish off with this wonderful image, as seen today on Hadassah Sabo's blog, In the Pink:

I'm posting this to Lesley's meme, Signs, Signs. Go and check it out - you'll be glad that you did!

That's it for now, folks - have a great day!