The natural love for coffee

Photographed outside a coffee shop somewhere in South Korea (대한민국), this contains two statements. The phrase "the natural love for coffee" is not a sentence, but it works as a slogan. The sentence with it, however, would read much better as "you can taste the love."

you and coffee, we only think.

This is the window of a coffee shop in Gunsan (군산시), North Jeolla Province (전라북도), South Korea (대한민국). Any native English speaker should understand the sentence "you and coffee, we only think" even though the grammar is incorrect. Because this is a coffee shop, the owner obviously thinks that everyone should drink more coffee.

There are many ways to rewrite this, but we'll focus on two key points. First, the phrase "you and coffee" is an idea, but you have to add more words to turn this fragment into a sentence. Second, remove the word "only" and just use "we think." So, for one example, you could state, "we think that you and coffee belong together." That actually has a romantic sound to it. You can also shorten this to "you and coffee belong together," because the "we think" is implied.

Also, don't forget to capitalize the first letter of every sentence!

I'll make you marry me.

Look at the lower half of this image, photographed from a Korean language English textbook. The phrase "I'll make you marry me" sounds very bad, as if the wedding will be unwanted and forced. The choice above that, "I'll make you my wife," is much better and can sound romantic. Yes, the meanings of these phrases are the same, when said to women, but the responses will probably be very different.

Swincramp?

Found on an athletic sweatshirt in South Korea (대한민국), the word "swincramp" probably should be "swim camp," a camp where children go swimming.

A hair of the dog?

This Korean language English textbook reads, "Oh, I'm miserable. I need a hair of the dog." At first, we were going to blog that this does not make any sense, and that we don't know what the author wanted to write. But, we goodsearched it, and learned that this is an English idiom that we never heard of.

The lesson, then, is to try to learn common English expressions first. You can use a phrase like this correctly, but it is so rare that many native speakers might not understand it. Also, there are many English-speaking countries around the world. Many phrases will only be understood in one country, and maybe even only a small region of that country.

Sence of Style

Photographed in a clothing store at the traditional market in Wonju (원주시), Gangwon Province (강원도), South Korea (대한민국), we first noticed that "sence" is misspelled, and should be "sense." Also, the pronoun is missing. For correct grammar and spelling, this shirt should read, "I have an exceptional sense of style."

The statement is ironic anyway, because the shirt is not actually stylish.

O. J. Simpson Murders

O. J. Simpson is a famous American athlete-turned-actor who was accused of killing his ex-wife and her male friend. These two victims were human beings with family and friends who loved them. While it is true that Simpson's role remained highly controversial long after the criminal and civil trials, it is extremely disrespectful to the victims' loved ones to use their murders to teach English grammar.

Living Ehglish Language

Found at a book kiosk in the Daejeon Express Bus Terminal, Daejeon Metropolitan City (대전시), South Korea (대한민국), this book needed to be proofread. How can you expect to learn English from a book that can't spell the word "English?"

Just now choice!

This sign was found on a building near the Lotte Mart (롯데마트) in Gunsan (군산시), North Jeolla Province (전라북도), South Korea (대한민국), and the English words should not be on it. If you can't read Korean then you don't know what someone wants you to choose, and if you can read Korean then maybe you can't understand the English.

Either way, if you want someone to make a choice, say, "choose now."

Are you having an affair?

This one is from the United States of America, and it helps to prove how so much of the English language can have multiple meanings. Although an "affair" can be any kind of event or gathering, the phrase "having an affair" usually refers to marital infidelity, in which a married person is romantically unfaithful to his or her spouse.

A better way of advertising this service would be to use any synonym of the word "affair," or any better description of the event. For example, "are you having a party?"

Because the writer of this advertisement was most likely a native English speaker, the wording was probably intentional. If you are a fellow native English speaker, then this is certainly going to attract your attention. And that, after all, is the purpose of advertising. However, if English is a second language to you, then always remember that whatever you write or speak may have more than one meaning.

We Recyclable

Recycling means to reuse something. Photographed in Daegu Metropolitan City (대구시), South Korea (대한민국), this container should say, "we recycle," as if to say, "we recycle glass," or, "we recycle plastics," or whatever it is they want to use again. Common recyclables include aluminum cans, steel cans, newspaper, magazines and slick inserts, corrugated cardboard, paper and paperboard, plastics, and glass.

It is also correct to say, "we are recyclable," because we humans, when we die, return all of our matter to the Earth. However, this container, found outside of an office building, was clearly not intended to collect people.

For more information on recycling, click here.