infrogmation: (Default)
2010-09-03 11:04 am

Translation poem

Ah, would I were a German!
I'd trouble my translator
With nouns the size of Hamburg
And leave the verb till later.

And if I were a Welshman
My work would thwart translation
With ninety novel plurals
In strict alliteration.

And would I were Chinese!
I'd throw them off their course
With twelve unusual symbols
All homophones of "horse".

But as it is, I'm English:
And I'm the one in hell
By writing in a language
Impossible to spell.

By [livejournal.com profile] marnanel posted to Linguaphiles.
infrogmation: (Default)
2007-04-04 10:05 pm

Say what?

Today I finally bothered to take a photo of the hobo/tramp/gypsy markings by the Algiers side of the ferry across the Mississippi.



Looking at the first few google hits for "hobo signs" informed me that the "X" means "OK" and the slashed circle something like "A good way to go", but I'm still ignorant about the rest.

Any epigraphic help out there?