‘Leave Values at Desk’: a Guide to Abused English
It’s enough to make a grammarian groan. The European Community has collected some of the worst abuses of the Queen’s English from around the world.
Take the Paris hotel that told guests: “Please leave your values at the desk.”
Or the Bangkok dry cleaner’s boast: “Drop your trousers here for best results.”
Most of the dozens of such doozies in the EC’s collection were compiled by its traveling translators beginning in July.
Under the title “Mind Your Language,” the fractured phrases are displayed in the lobbies of the EC’s office complex here.
An Acapulco hotel reassured guests about the drinking water: “The manager has personally passed all the water served here.”
A Tokyo hotel advised guests it “is forbidden to steal hotel towels please.” But politely added, “If you are not a person to do such thing please not to read notice.”
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