omgwtfbbq
On the one hand, there's the difference between high-class English and low-class English, or the toilet vs. bathroom debate. (Unsurprisingly, I never say 'toilet'. I remember a guy I once went out with being very amused by that.)
Then there's the low-class English by accident vs. deliberate low-class English issue, best illustrated by my new favourite site, icanhascheezburger?.com. Apart from the can-die-of-cutesiness factor, it has this priceless guide to writing Engrish, with tips like:
If you really can’t wrap your head around the concepts behind "Engrish", try this: Go to babelfish.altavista.com, type your desired comment in, hit "english-to-Japanese", then re-translate back to English..
See - this is why I think it's so important to be good at any one language. Not only so that you can make a conscious choice to speak it well or mangle it for fun, but also because you can appreciate very good writing as well as bad writing done very well. I'm quite a lousy writer - my sentences are too long and I have no creative bone in my body - but as long as I know enough to love a good writer, I can find endless hours of entertainment anywhere.
Go to ICanHasCheezburger, it's sooooooooooo cute.
posted by zyn ::
10:57 PM ::
2 Comments ::
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