this is has been on there since at least 2005. My friends from back in the day still yell “AND CULTURAL” at each other

Reddit woke up on the wrong side of the bread this morning.

Embrace the downvotes.

[removed]

I swear around 2005 or so we would get these with a different set of typos, "glonous and cultual", which became a mini-meme around our college.

The Chinese-American contribution to international cuisine? You what?

Fascinating!

Back then, they made these typos because whenever an organization in China needed an English translation, they usually just got one of the board member's high school age children to do it. That ended when the CCP clamped down hard on the practice during the years leading up to the Beijing Olympics.

Although, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that this is what happened here. It's been a few decades since the Beijing Olympics. This company might be small enough that they are gambling that they can get away with this trick without the Govt detecting it.

Speaking the king's engrish

Are Asians the only culture to use Chopsticks?

Depends.
In the first place: No, it has nothing to do with the joke!
In the second place: It is the reason the cat did climb the tree. The title could not be "Poor Career Choice" if the cat had climbed the tree for are reason that is unrelented to the cats job!

This is the "fixed" version. I remember the old one.

On the flipside, there were instructions on "How to use Chopsticks" it went something like:

"Hold first chopstick as you would a pencil. Tuk second chcostick under thurnb, hold firmly. Move in to originai position. Now you can pick up anything!"

Thank you!

Tons of females will do anything to get their mouths filled with nut. Can't blame em; Us guys are the shit.

I love this comic. The comments in this thread are heckin woooooosh.

Lol how long before any non-asian using chopsticks is labelled cultural appropriation?

"Now you can pick up anything." Me: "ANYTHING?"

Ah, old is more subjective than that...choose to feel young if you prefer it--it works for me!

[removed]

I was just thinking I remember these from the late 80’s early 90’s. Fuck I’m getting old.

[removed]

Assuming we all have at least some familiarity with the formative importance to the U.S. (and Canada etc.) of Chinese-American history and that of the diaspora (among the other Asian diasporas with which, importantly to its history, it is frequently conflated), painful as the most pivotal events have been, I think we can take a moment to reflect pleasantly on the dramatic Chinese-American contribution to both international cuisine and American dining culture. Furthermore, good food is the kind of thing that drives even the most hateful xenophobic bigots face peacefully, positively, their imagined nemesis.

There's the longstanding "Engrish" meme theme online, with the concept of laughing at e.g. Chinese-American restaurant text going back as far as those restaurants have catered outside the diaspora (ofc laughing at language mistakes is as old as humanity -- language is inherently funny). However, that mocking behavior is a cultural exchange between some different level of English speakers on the one hand and the continual flow of the Chinese diaspora on the other, as much as it is simply laughing at silly language. Compare the "in bed" joke routine a big group might do with their fortune cookies at the end of a meal. These kinds of social behaviors are a big part of what invites foreigners into the Chinese restaurants and businesses, from the suburban malls to downtown Chinatown. People are definitely laughing at, not with, the misspeller or printer, but that's all still elemental in a peaceful -- and profitable -- cultural exchange.

Finally to the point: with machine language translation getting constantly better -- never mind a rigorous English education becoming even more ubiquitous -- I fear there will be fewer and fewer examples of Engrish to see in America. And that's a cultural loss -- not net loss, but change. The real-life fubar misprints will be gone and all we'll have left are the rehashed memes and occasional ironic t-shirts.

I guess this became my inelegant pre-elegy to Engrish. For all I know it's premature by 50 years; I can also conceive of a manner in which natural Engrish in some form, regardless of tech and education, would never disappear. (Note also this more or less can apply to any diaspora anywhere, but there's lots of reasons besides those listed for why the entire Chinese-American interweave makes such a richly complex case of its own.)

[removed]

I had this exact version maybe like 25 years ago in NYC. Guess they haven’t fixed it yet haha

I’d like to see the number of mistakes you’d make trying to copy Chinese characters … tbh our alphabet, while not being as complicated as hanzi, probably has a similar effect on whoever random Chinese person got stuck with the proofreading lol

Yeah this is a bad comic. Thought it had to do with where the branch landed. But cute cat comic equal upvote I guess.