24 March, 2011

Happy Belated Purim!



For those of you who may not know, we celebrated Purim this past Sunday. Purim is one of Judaism's most fun-filled holidays, with lots of happy social interaction, dressing up, and of course, good food! I was really hoping for a funny Purim sign or label to post here, and I sadly didn't find anything too outrageous. But I'm lucky enough to have some on-the-ball friends who both found this wonderful, perfect specimen - first time contributor Yonina, and veteran contributor Dena. You guys saved the day - thanks so much! And now, with no further ado:




This is a package of Hamantaschen, those traditional, three-cornered Purim cookies. In Hebrew they're oznei haman, which is a whole other mix-up, but we can save that post for my dear husband, the Balashon. Anyway, these date-filled ones are grossly mislabeled - first off, and most obviously, the palm flavor is really off-putting. No? Is it just me? I don't know about all of you, but it makes me actually grimace - maybe I'm just thinking of palm oil... But even if they were palm flavored, I'm pretty sure they would be Palm Flavored Ozney Haman, and not Ozney Haman Palm flavored. And also, why are all of the words capitalized except for flavored? Did they run out of capitals, just then?


This is frustrating, and yet so very, very entertaining :)


Anyway, I'm posting this to Lesley's weekly meme, Signs, Signs. Go check it out! Have a great week, everyone!

17 March, 2011

We're on the map!

I've been a bit busy with life lately - nothing in particular, but somehow I seem to have less time than usual for things online. I don't want to abandon my loyal fans, though, and so I'm taking a minute to post this doozy, kindly sent in by my friend Dena. She's found so many of these for me that at this point, I'm thinking I should just turn over the whole blog to her! Anyway, here's the latest - thanks so much, Dena!


Maybe I should explain: mapa is the Hebrew word for tablecloth, something that often makes us immigrants laugh. Maps and tablecloths are a little similar, if you look for it - they're both big flat sheets that can be folded up, right? But now, here comes another example of good old Israeli know-how. The word is mapa, they've heard the word map, what could be easier? They must go together, right? No need to ask an English speaker - anyone can speak English! It's so easy! 

You've got to love it :)

Once again, I'm posting this to Lesley's meme, Signs, signs. Have a great week, everyone!

10 March, 2011

Shouldn't they know better?

Hello all! 

This week I present you with two funny posts sent to me all the way from the U.S. of A! I personally love mistakes found in native English speaking countries - they make me feel so much better about our situation here in Israel. And so, with no further ado - here's one that was thoughtfully sent to me by Sheva:


This menu was found in her local Chinese restaurant, in Baltimore. Can you find the mistake? Personally, I always run for chocolate, and I imagine truffles are even more tempting. But as Sheva points out, perhaps serving things like french fries and chocolate at a Chinese restaurant should be our cue to run :)
Thanks for thinking of me when you saw this, Sheva!

Here is number two, found by my friend Dena's parents, while they were in New Orleans. Dena calls this "the most self-evident sign ever," and I'm inclined to agree:


I mean - yes, okay, it's true - but really? How necessary is this sign? I love it! Thanks, Dena and family!

Oh - I wanted to share one more with you - this is something from our friend Shlomo. It's not American, but it's an Israeli take on an American product, and I found it very funny:


Do you see it? Do you see it? Yeah, there - the only English in the ad :) This one is particularly fantastic because cat is exactly how Israelis would pronounce cut. So I'm pretty sure that someone was convinced that this was the proper spelling. And naturally, working at a newspaper, they wouldn't have access to an actual English speaker - yeah right :) 

That's all for now - don't forget to check out Lesley's great meme: Signs, signs!  And have a great week, everyone!