“A kiss to the spirit of the future” --President (beverage co)
“Taiwan! Go go go!” --something from the government
“Such a fair world for the upper class”–some real estate co.
Wanna have a bite? Welcome you a pirate!
(Government warning to end-users of pirated computer / video products–looks serious to me, guess the U.S. should take Taiwan off the black-list)
[quote=“Screaming Jesus”]Wanna have a bite? Welcome you a pirate!
(Government warning to end-users of pirated computer / video products–looks serious to me, guess the U.S. should take Taiwan off the black-list)[/quote]
SJ,
Let’s give credit where and when it is due:
[URL=http://www.cedi.cepd.gov.tw/eng/tnen_info.php?iPath=41&digests_id=445]According to statistics on pirated goods imports in 2003 compiled by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection office and Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit, the value of such goods from Taiwan that were confiscated by American customs plummeted to US$ 610,000 that year, down from US$ 26.5 million in 2002. This lowered Taiwan from second to below 10th place among suppliers of pirated goods to the U.S. There was also a huge reduction in confiscated optical media from Taiwan, from US$ 23 million in 2002 to only US $23,000 in 2003. This shows that Taiwan’s border control system for the protection of intellectual property is having a substantial effect.
The figures show that the top 10 sources of pirated goods imported into the United States in 2003 were, in descending order, mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, Pakistan, Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, Canada, Switzerland, and Thailand.[/URL]
There’s a shop (looks like some kind of real estate office) on Dexing Road in Tianmu, close to the Yangmingshan Hospital with a sign that reads “We are people who are resting on our laurels!” 
I don’t know if this is their official slogan, but I did find it heartwarming. Today’s TT reports that an 8-story shopping mall in HK where at least 2 people have jumped to their deaths has erected an anti-suicide barrier to prevent such actions in the future. As the manager of the shopping mall explained, “We don’t want unhappy incidents to affect the shopping desire of our customers.”
Correction: I misremembered that slogan from the government (on those commercials they play before the movies). It’s really “Taiwan good!” and refers to the grateful attitude third-world countries will surely adopt after you, ROC citizen, volunteer for their equivalent of the Peace Corps.
Taiwan good, two legs bad.
For the “Most inapproriate slogan based on personal experience” category
I nominate “Egypt, where everyone wears a smile”.
We were having a late night drink at ‘3 Royalty 3 House’ in Taizhong (can’t work that name out for the life of me). The slogan on the door as you enter is “Ease Your Life” so it was straight off to the bathroom for me.
While flicking through one of the complimentry shopping magazines my Chinese friend who has extremely good English ability noticed a T-shirt advert. She translated the magazines text, “Slogans that will draw people and reach the heart.” The English slogans on the two shirts pictured were “Make Love, Not War” and “I Did Justin Three Times.”
One more: a young girl at a kindergarten where my friend works was wearing a shirt with “A young boy kept for sexual purposes.” He said at first glance the bunnies on the shirt looked innocent, but after reading the text and taking a closer look they weren’t quite so innocent.
(There are some sick puppies out there)
The English slogans you see on T-shirts here are sometimes so inappropriate I can’t help wondering who chose to print them - did they know what the slogan meant, and are playing a practical joke on their fellow Taiwanese citizens, or do they really have no clue?
At my buxiban I was teaching a summer beginner’s course; one girl, about 10 years old, often wore a T-shirt with the stirring slogan: CANNABIS will help you in times of no money more than money will help you in times of no cannabis.
I explained to my TA what the shirt meant. The Taiwanese teachers had had no idea it was referring to anything inappropriate.
[quote=“bababa”]The English slogans you see on T-shirts here are sometimes so inappropriate I can’t help wondering who chose to print them - did they know what the slogan meant, and are playing a practical joke on their fellow Taiwanese citizens, or do they really have no clue?
[/quote]
As I mentioned in my previous post. The picture looked innocent enough, but once the words were actually read and my friend took a closer look at the picture he said it was quite clear that the bunnies were up to something innapproriate on a child’s shirt.
I am sure that there are a lot of mistakes out there as I have read slogans that just don’t make sense, spelling so bad that they aren’t even words and grammar that just makes me laugh.
But when you get grammatically correct sentences, with correct spelling and what would be to many an offensive or innappropriate message then I think there’s a little foul play at hand. I wouldn’t be quick to dismiss wai-guo-rens being invovled. Seems like the police should do a little research into the types of people doing this printing. It might be a sign of other innapropriate activities going on.
This is for a new residential building they are putting up. They are trying to sell apartments while they are building. I think it says, “For people who are resting on their laurels.” I live right around the corner.
A clothing store near Da-An Park has this English slogan:
“Let us be your prime mate.”
(Italics in original.) There MUST have been a native English speaker with a sense of humor involved in this. It’s just too much of a coincidence.
I saw this on a poster at some outdoor promotion events at the Xin Guang San Yue at Warner Village area. “Zest your need, enjoy together!”
I couldn’t figure out what product they were promoting, or how exactly you zest your need.
my favorite was one that I saw on a moped… “Jockey: Join us to ride it”
This year’s computex: Future Perfect!
I just remembered another one I saw on a girl’s sweat shirt at USC. It went something along the lines of “Puk Puk says: Kiss the Future”
From a billboard:
“Let’s pray together for Taiwan!”
I don’t know what’s the more strange, the fact that this was an ad for China Petroleum (guess they’re branching out into other concerns), or that the people in the picture were making fists. Not the gonna-hit-somebody kind of fist, but the way you would hold your hand if your team scored.
A hair salon that has branches all over Taiwan has this slogan in English on a big banner outside:
DO YOURSELF
Meanwhile, Changhua Bank has signs in front of the teller that say in English:
TOUCH US
Have you noticed any other interesting slogans?
I saw that as well, and I thought, “Well, what if I just?” but then I thought I had better reconsider. However, for a moment, just a moment, the temptation was quite strong.