“Lost in Translation” Weekly Chuckles from “Waseet”!

“Waseet” is a free weekly classified paper handed out to homes in the Muscat area.  I’m not sure if they actually have an editor because it always seems to be filled with mistakes.  Some are your normal run-of-the-mill errors that one would expect from a non-native speaker writing in English while other mistakes either leave the ad as a hilarious mistranslation or leave you wondering just what the heck they wanted to convey in the first place!  🙂  The free paper states, “Please say you saw it in Waseet!”  I don’t think this is what they had in mind, ha!ha!  Here are a few examples for your viewing pleasure. 

I think that if someone runs a limousine rental company and advertises in English, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to double check the spelling of “limousine“!  🙂  Just a thought!

This ad for a 2006 Corolla mentions that it has a “good location“. ?!?!  Good location would obviously be important for a business or home, but for a car?!  I think this is one of those “lost in translation” moments where they might have meant to write “good condition“!  🙂

“Foud Marketing“?!  “Foud” is actually a British word meaning “a bailiff, magistrate or legal official”.  I’m guessing they meant “food marketing”!

This is a pretty funny one, me thinks!  What on earth do you think they mean by “responsible store“?!?  “He have university or college certificate & He know English”.  Perhaps if they find this salesman “who know English” he could give them private lessons while he’s at it, ha!ha!

“In seed“?!  There are 3 possibilities here: 1) They are being poetic and talking about the growth of a new school, 2) There is an area unknown to me known as “Seed”, or 3) They misspelled “Seeb“.   Hmm.

And saving my favorite for last  The funny thing about this one is that with the misspelling of “housemaid” and incorrect word order, this may be closer to the truth than the person posting this ad may realize.  Many Filipinas (and women in general, am I right?!  😉 ) are indeed “housemad” (meaning “crazy about or has a huge interest in houses“.)

The great thing about Waseet ads (read their online version here) is that you never know what you’re going to read next!  🙂  Thanks for the laughs, Waseet!

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