trying too hard / カッコつけ過ぎ

日本の会社のホームページの検索が多い今日この頃。一つ気になることが・・・　タイポ（誤字）がやたらと多い！人のことがトヤカク言える程、英語力が完璧ではない私だが、メールで教えてあげようかと思う今日この頃。「外国語がかっこいい」との観念を持っている人が多いからなのは、わかるんだけど、使うからにはある程度チェックしてよ〜　苦笑

●某カフェ。「遅い朝食」(brunch)としたかったのが、なぜか「枝」の（branch)に。しかも、時間も１５時からのメニューなので、「３時のおやつ」にちかく、結局ブランチじゃないし。

●某デザイン事務所。「monthly project」（月一回のプロジェクト）が「monthry project」になっていた。コレは単に勘違いじゃなくって、辞書でチェック入れていない証拠。

●某広告代理店。「mobil manufacture」はさすがに分からなく和文を読んで初めて、言いたいことを理解。「automotive/automobile manufacture」（自動車メーカー）と言いたかったみたい。そもそも「mobil」は誤字で「mobile」が正しく、英国は知らないけど、米国じゃ「mobile」といって最初に思いつくのは、携帯電話。

メールで教えてあげても、どうせ「余計なおせっかい」で終わりそうだが、気になる・・・

もちろん、アメリカでも似た様な頃はもちろんある。

●大学時代のこと。知り合いの男子生徒に、ネットって調べて訳した日本語が正しいかチェックしたいと頼まれる。見せられたのは、彼の背中に既に入った刺青。「間違っているよ」と冗談を言いたいのを我慢し,大丈夫だと教える。

●日本語がある程度読める彼の以前のバイト先でのこと。明らかにデタラメで意味の分からない日本語の刺青をした客が来店。知らん顔で刺青の意味を訪ねた彼に、客は「私の○○って名前を日本語で入れたものなのよ〜」と嬉しそうに答えたそうな・・・　「知らぬが仏」とはまさにこの事。

Being in Japan, I've been surfing Japanese sites more often than ever. What I've been noticing is that too many typos of English words. I guess English is used often since many think it's cooler to use foreign languages... I know my English isn't perfect but it's been bothering me quite often. Here are what I've seen so far...

* on the web site for a cafe:
Instead of "brunch", it was spelled out "branch". Also it turned out that it wasn't brunch at all since it was served between lunch and dinner!

* on the web site for a design firm:
Instead of "monthly project", it was spelled out as "monthry project". Obviously someone was too lazy to spell check.

* on the web site for an ad agency:
I had a hard time what they are trying to say with "mobil manufacture". After reading it in Japanese, I realized that they wanted to say "automotive/automobile manufacture"... I thought of cell phones instead of cars at first. :)

I have been wondering if I should email these places to point out their typos. :-/

Well, on other hand I have seen the incidents that are other way around as well.

* Back in college, a guy asked me to make sure his name is spelled correctly in Japanese. What he showed me was already finished tattoo on his back! Even though I had an urge to be mean and tell him that it was incorrect to freak him out, I told him the truth. What a lucky guy!

* When Beejay used to work retail, one customer who had a tattoo of random Japanese character came in to the store. Pretending that he couldn't read Japanese at all, he asked the meaning of that tattoo. She replied with a huge smile on her face, "it's my name in Japanese"... "Ignorance is a bliss"