Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sunday's Silly Sign (Photo)

It was a Sunday when I spotted this silly sign on a shutter door in a relatively upscale business district of Okinawa, Japan.  With hours like 11AM to 9PM, whoever owns the place might just take Sunday's off.

My Webster's American Dictionary (1999) which (you've probably already noticed) I hardly ever use, says a crank is a bent lever turned to operate a machine.  Do think this place might be selling, used cranks ?

Friends of mine from the UK probably have an Oxford Dictionary in their house but, they moved to a village too far away for me to walk to so, I'm not going to bother them and try to learn a new kind of English.

A few years ago, I taught auto mechanics. We would call a crankshaft, a crank. But, I would never expect anyone to go looking for a used crank if they wanted to repair their car. Buy a new one; they're better.

Well, my friend from the UK and I were having a beer one day and he asked me if I knew of any place he could rent a flat. I thought he was crazy. Why would you pay someone to rent a flat when you can just let the air out of your spare tire and get a flat for free?  You could still get around on the tires that weren't flat. 

So, he explains.  He didn't mean a flat tire.  In the UK, a flat is an apartment.  Maybe, I shouldn't have joked about it.  Then, they might not have moved so far away from me.

There's a new dictionary I look stuff up in sometimes, just in case I ever travel back to the USA.  It seems like they just keep inventing new words and slang so, if I don't want to look like a foreigner I have to study-up before I travel.  You can check out the Urban Dictionary anytime you want to learn how to talk like an urbanite, I guess.  Their definitions for CRANK ARE HERE.

My blog, I try to keep family oriented so, it's heavily censored, mostly by me.

Anyway, back to this Sunday's Silly Sign.  What do you suppose they sell in that store ?

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2 comments:

Ryan said...

It's interesting to watch the English language evolving, especially in the US. I'm taking a wild guess here Mike but might this be a music store as in 'crank up' the sound or volume? Maybe not...
You need to go back when it's open and let me know what they sell in there.

RyukyuMike said...

Ryan,
That sounds like a plan; I'll do it. First, I gotta fix a flat !