KUALA LUMPUR: In the public restrooms of the city’s state-of-the-art MRT stations, smoking and littering are, understandably, prohibited.
So too, it seems, are sign writers remotely competent in the English language.
As he made his way to the men’s toilet at the Muzium Negara MRT station on Thursday, full-bladdered NSTP journalist Sameer Ahmed Shaikh caught sight of a flimsy paper notice, tackily affixed to the wall with sticky tape.
What the sign bore was a glorious example of what is known on the internet as “Engrish” (or Asian English) – a third-degree burn version of English popularised by menus, t-shirts and product packaging throughout the Orient.
(Scandalised foreign tourists have related their traumatising run-ins with the linguistic abomination at the uproarious site: www.Engrish.com).
Clashing violently with the world-class surroundings of the MRT station was this drunken hobo of a message, which Sameer attempted to decipher:
NO SMOKING/LITTERING ZONE
As per order been given clearly the smoking/littering have not been allowed at STATION, we’re would like to stress here again that
ANYONE/INDIVIDUAL WHO DOES SMOKING/RELATED ACTIVITIES WILL BE ISSUE OF PENALTIES STRICTLY. NO CONSIDERATION!
After “reading” the notice, Sameer confessed that he almost lost the urge to relieve himself and considered rushing home. He was wary of being “an issue of penalties,” after all.