Say What?? Travel Photo: Jade?
Did you know that Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is famous for its jade? I didn’t, that is, until I encountered all these stores selling Burmese Jade in the not-so-mythical land of Shangri-La in China. And as such is the trend when you have a bunch of stores selling the same product, naming becomes a bit of a challenge. You have to find a way to make your shop unique. Why not throw in a few other products along with the jade? I mean, tourists are gullible and will buy anything fancy looking, right?
Enter, the store you are about to see, which just might have the single most perplexing sign that Say What?? has seen yet. Before I show it to you though, I must apologize for the incredibly poor image quality, but it was simply too good of a sign to pass up.
No, your eyes really aren’t deceived you. The sign really does say “The hair cow product Burma the jade article a bead store.” So, my question to you is, what in the world does this sign say??? Is this a store that sells beads, jade and products from cow hair that are made in Burma? I don’t know.
I had asked you to help me come up with the best translations for the seemingly incoherent sign, and the winning entry in my opinion is Iain Mallory from Mallory on Travel. He said:
“The hair of the cow is better (bigger) than the hair of the dog, but will leave beads of sweat running into you jade coloured eyes”
Well said Iain! Well said!
Programming Note: Say What?? is moving to a once-a-week format and, starting next week, will be published on Tuesdays. I know, I know, you’ve come to expect Say What?? on Mondays and Fridays, but there are changes afoot here on Aaron’s Worldwide Adventures and you can look for some exciting new features coming later this week.