Threadless.com - Best t-shirts in the world
Type Tees - Amazing tees created from submitted slogans!
The Select Series - Artist edition limited invite only tee shirt designs
Threadless Kids - Designer kids & baby clothing
phyntosia
phyntosia aka Ruth is a 25.53 year old girl, has been a member since May 15, 2007, has scored 7427 submissions, giving an average score of 2.59.
  Apr 14 '08 by phyntosia        65 Comments        Watch this      Share:  Share on facebook    Share on delicious    Share on digg    Share on MySpace    Tweet this    Stumble this    Share this on Kaboodle   
I was so excited when I saw this shirt, though I wasn't quite sure exactly what the Russian said (literally, it says "joke/riddle this is very interesting", but I'm not fluent in Russian so I'm not sure what it means idiomatically). I don't know French or Italian, though I hear the French is mildly out as well.

But then, on re-reading, I realised that the Russian is misspelled as well - instead of "Э", it's been spelled with a "З" - which both look quite similar to non-Russian speakers, I imagine, but one is "eh" and the other is "z", so they're quite different. And today I noticed that the "Т" is written "t", which isn't even a Russian letter; and the "И" is written "N", which again, isn't a Russian letter at all.

I really like this design and was going to get it, but my Russian-speaking friends would just laugh at me for wearing such a misspelled Russian phrase when I know better, and I'd just feel too embarrassed to ever wear it.

It just makes me sad - I know the designer doesn't speak Russian (or French or Italian, I assume?), but I kind of wish Threadless would talk to someone who speaks the languages to check that the sentences, or at least the letters, are accurate before they print it. Now it kind of feels like one of those sad cheap shirts that are sold in non-English-speaking countries, with English phrases which don't make any sense, but people buy them anyway cos they're "cool"... and people who do speak English just read the shirts and snigger and think how sad those people are.

I love the design, and I would buy this SO FAST if it was correct in the Russian (and French and Italian). It just makes me sad that it's all wrong. :( My only hope is that this will be really popular and sell out fast and Threadless will reprint it - and fix the mistakes!
Page:
1 2

ladykat
ladykat on Apr 14 '08 at 5:01pm
The French IS correct, unless "l'inconnu" is referring to the woman, and not some intangible concept... but I think Leon meant the latter. I think the person who corrected him thought he was referring to the woman.
ladykat
ladykat on Apr 14 '08 at 5:02pm
But this isn't the kind of design that gets reprinted quickly, would be my bet.
phyntosia
phyntosia on Apr 14 '08 at 5:07pm
Ohhh OK... that's good then. I don't think it'll get reprinted quickly either, I just hope in vain that it will. It just annoys me that I didn't see this while it was scoring, cos I could have corrected the Russian... not that Threadless would necessarily have changed the design, but at least they'd have known it was wrong before printing it, instead of it all being some tragic misspelling that no one ever knew about until it was too late. :(
ladykat
ladykat on Apr 14 '08 at 5:11pm
I wonder if you could fix it manually... with thinned out fabric paint? I mean, the N probably can't be fixed, but the E/Z thing could.
billinator
billinator on Apr 14 '08 at 5:36pm
yeah, I was really excited to see the Russian too, until I tried to read it and noticed all the mistakes. If this could possibly be fixed, I'd buy 5 of them just to show my appreciation
d3d
   d3d on Apr 14 '08 at 6:00pm
you should demand a product recall. somebody could be killed.
FlyOverDeathRock
FlyOverDeathRock on Apr 14 '08 at 6:37pm
I pretty sure that the whole shirt says

I prefer that i do not understand,
the unknown one is more captivating, fascinating,
Riddle to it is very interesting
show me something new
ozwald
ozwald on Apr 14 '08 at 6:42pm
at least 1/2 of the russian words are spelled right... I was going to buy it as well til i saw the mistakes. Since I am learning Russian I would definitely feel even more stupid if i was wearing a shirt that wasn't even gramatically correct.
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 14 '08 at 6:42pm
take the designer out back and shoot him.
Krakaboom
   Krakaboom on Apr 14 '08 at 6:54pm
When d3d asked for help translating some phrases, I approached one of my Russian colleagues and he provided загадка - это очень интересно. Now, I don't read Russian either, so if there is an error in the text, I guess it's partly my fault, and I'm really sorry :(
Krakaboom
   Krakaboom on Apr 14 '08 at 6:55pm
Sorry - what he gave was загадка - это очень интересно
Krakaboom
   Krakaboom on Apr 14 '08 at 6:56pm
I don't know why it turned all weird when I italicised the text.
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 14 '08 at 6:57pm
take kraka out back with leon :)
Tonteau
   Tonteau on Apr 14 '08 at 6:58pm
It looks like ignorance really is bliss.
phyntosia
phyntosia on Apr 14 '08 at 7:07pm
Heh... like I say, I'm not fluent in Russian, so I'm not sure about the grammar there, the grammar could well be right. And what you've got there, Krakaboom, is correct as far as spelling goes - but for some reason Leon changed the first and second letters in the second word, and the first letter in the last word.

Also: the italics are correct. Russian's complicated - you know how in English, you have different letters for upper and lower case letters? Russian has different letters for upper and lower case type, and different letters again for upper and lower case handwriting. So the italics come up kind of similar to how you'd hand-write Russian. But not exactly similar.

Russian's a complicated language. :)
christi104hsia
christi104hsia on Apr 14 '08 at 7:36pm
AhhhhHHHHhhhh

I just realized the mistake when I was reading it. x__x
lington
lington on Apr 14 '08 at 7:48pm
I got incredibly excited about the Russian, too... for about three seconds, until I realized the mistake with N/И. The other ones sort of popped out after that. I really do wish they'd reprint a corrected version, because the design is otherwise great and I like the idea.
amoamasamat
amoamasamat on Apr 14 '08 at 7:59pm
Oh man... that's SUCH a bummer! This tee looks awesome, and I'm all about languages, but I did take a semester of Russian, and I just don't think I could wear it as is. :(

Threadless... please fix and reprint!! :)
berrynoir
berrynoir on Apr 14 '08 at 8:01pm
I have to say that for me, part of the shirt's concept as it was presented, was that the designer didn't know the languages, and many people wouldn't know at least some of the languages, and that was the whole idea. I understand that some people may be bothered by the misspelling - but this is a design, and the poster is one element in that design - what if it was a photograph of a couple standing by a vintage poster that had actual misspellings on it? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think this should prevent people from buying the shirt if they like it and enjoy the design.
d3d
   d3d on Apr 14 '08 at 8:38pm
tonteau knows what's up. i should have deliberately included a mistake in the english too.
i knew i was likely to make mistakes trying to use languages i don't speak but that was never important to me. the point is to enjoy the mystery, not explain it.
phyntosia
phyntosia on Apr 14 '08 at 8:47pm
I can see your point, but in that case the misspellings would be there for a reason. Here, they're just a mistake. Would you wear a tee saying "Mtea is murder" (mixed-up spelling) or "Video games rulned my life" (a similar letter in where the correct letter should be) or even "I high five straИgers" (another alphabet appearing in the sentence)? Or would you just feel a bit stupid and request that the spelling be printed so you don't look like an idiot wearing it?

If there was misspelling there for a reason, then sure. If it makes it a nicer design, or gives it some deeper meaning, then why not.

But it doesn't - it's just a misspelling. And I don't think this will put many people off buying the shirt, but it does disappoint me.
phyntosia
phyntosia on Apr 14 '08 at 8:51pm
@d3d - I don't mean to be dissing on you at all, I think you're a fantastic artist/designer and I love all your designs (and *need* a copy of that moth in the lightbulb one, which I just can't find anyone selling in my size!). It's not your language, and I wouldn't expect you to know it. I just wish that Threadless had got someone who does know the different languages to proofread it, especially since you mentioned in the submission comments that you don't know the languages yourself, either.

But I don't mean this as anything at all against you - you rock, this design is beautiful, and everyone in this blog seems to absolutely love it (some with the exception of the spelling errors).

:)
doors778
doors778 on Apr 14 '08 at 10:05pm
d3d:
is загадка supposed to be 'mystery'?
d3d
   d3d on Apr 14 '08 at 10:21pm
i don't know. maybe.
doors778
doors778 on Apr 14 '08 at 10:35pm
тайна
machu
machu on Apr 14 '08 at 11:07pm
it looks like the artwork could be from an e-surance commercial...
appleapple_
appleapple_ on Apr 15 '08 at 1:38am
:( unfortunate.
E190
E190 on Apr 15 '08 at 1:42am
it seems to me that Threadless knows what sells and what doesn't and are not all concerned about this design
christi104hsia
christi104hsia on Apr 15 '08 at 2:30am
Don't forget E190... Threadless only prints according to the number of $ signs when we vote.
eluvium avalanche
eluvium avalanche on Apr 15 '08 at 3:56am
Wow, heads should have rolled for such a grievous mistake!

Really, I love the design, the style and the colors, and I thought the point of the poster was to be vaguely mysterious and dripping more with the wonders of new lands and bourgeois cool than technical linguistic brilliance. It's called Ignorance is Bliss. It's about the fun of not knowing, so I don't care if the Russian is so off as to be incomprehensible.

And re: snickering at non-English speakers wearing 'Engrish' slogans - really? I always find it fun. Language interests me (as you can tell, I know nothing of Russian and my French and Italian are very rusty), and not just in a very prim and proper sense. Mistakes are interesting. Playing with/confusing character sets is interesting.

Besides, if someone is really going to take the time to read a shirt I'm wearing, get out their red marking pen and scrutinize the linguistic merit of it I'M probably going to laugh at THEM.
E190
E190 on Apr 15 '08 at 4:01am
Eluvium gets it!

Christi, are you agreeing with me?
billinator
billinator on Apr 15 '08 at 5:56am
well, it's not so much "heavily scrutinized" as it is "hey, just glanced at this shirt and it's definitely misspelled!" (to a Russian speaker anyway). There is no letter N or lowercase t and the з letter is different from the э, even if it doesn't look like it in this particular font

but yeah dude, it was a cool design and I'm not trying to rip on you either. I'm just pretty sure I'd look like an idiot wearing it around Ukraine without the corrections
d3d
   d3d on Apr 15 '08 at 7:56am
it's a huge shame people are put off by the misspellings, but i can't expect threadless to turn around and remake the screens and reprint it. that'd be crazy so i'm happy to just let it slide. i just wish someone had been around to correct me at any time in the past month or so instead of the day it went on sale.
berrynoir
berrynoir on Apr 15 '08 at 8:09am
Btw, Leon - about purposefully making a mistake in the English - who's to say you didn't? In English it really just reads "Show me **mething new".
pyr4lis
pyr4lis on Apr 15 '08 at 11:38am
Honestly I don't speak the language so you know what?? I don't care that it's not spelled correctly! And even if I did... I'm not anal enough to care about a teensy mis-spelling. And honestly people... it's not like it is a majorly drastic error either that says something perverted. I would have this in an instant if I wasn't still unemployed. I knwo this is selfish but I hope it doesn't sell out too quickly so when I do get another job I can still buy one.
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 15 '08 at 11:45am
leon aka mr. e
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 2:34pm
pyr4lis, it's not a teensy misspelling. half of the words are spelled wrong and both of the misspellings use non-existent characters. sorry, but if i saw somewhere wearing this shirt i would probably laugh to myself.
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 2:34pm
someONE.
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 15 '08 at 2:38pm
the shirt's name alone is explaination tho. if someone were to say to me, that's spelled wrong, i'd just say it was supposed to be. how would they know either way?
danisse
danisse on Apr 15 '08 at 2:45pm
Just based on the number of Russian speakers I encounter daily (not a whole lot), I'm not really worried about it.
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 2:46pm
"But the NAME of the shirt is 'ignorance is bliss!'" Does the title of the shirt matter? Unless you're wearing a sign around your neck that says "this shirt is supposed to be spelled incorrectly because the title is 'ignorance is bliss'" it doesn't really work. And since it seems as if it wasn't a purposeful mistake... that explanation doesn't quite fly either. and apparently only the Russian is incorrect, so then it would just look like a russophobic t-shirt. Ignorance of the Russian language brings bliss to your life? ;)
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 15 '08 at 2:50pm
i tend to tell people the names of my [tless] tees. they're as much fun as the designs. and as i've yet to meet anyone off the street who knows what threadless is, i'm not really worried that they're gonna know either way.

it doesn't really matter at this point. the tees are printed. it's a great design. if you don't like the typos, don't buy. if they don't bother you, then get one.
mezo
   mezo on Apr 15 '08 at 2:52pm
How do you say "bitch" in Russian?
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 2:59pm
Сука.

Меньше знаешь--крепче спишь.
berrynoir
berrynoir on Apr 15 '08 at 3:00pm
Even if I knew, I'd probably spell it wrong.
mezo
   mezo on Apr 15 '08 at 3:03pm
Teehee!

HOW DO YOU SAY "PING-PING" IN RUSSIAN?
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 15 '08 at 3:03pm
hahaha
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 3:05pm
пинг-пинг :)


phyntosia
phyntosia on Apr 15 '08 at 3:59pm
billinator on Apr 15 '08 at 5:56am
well, it's not so much "heavily scrutinized" as it is "hey, just glanced at this shirt and it's definitely misspelled!" (to a Russian speaker anyway). There is no letter N or lowercase t and the з letter is different from the э, even if it doesn't look like it in this particular font

but yeah dude, it was a cool design and I'm not trying to rip on you either. I'm just pretty sure I'd look like an idiot wearing it around Ukraine without the corrections


Same for me - that's exactly what I mean. It's a cool design, it's a huge shame this wasn't picked up on before, I definitely don't expect Threadless to reprint it (I guess this blog is just for the minor chance that they do, in the future), it's just that... to Russian speakers, it is just obvious mistakes, which you'd just feel silly wearing. I imagine most people don't know others that speak Russian, but I guess if you *do* speak Russian, the amount of people you know that also do, goes up. e.g. my parents and sister both speak Russian fluently, my boyfriend and best friend both know it a little bit, another friend IS Russian, and so on.

And by the way, "Сука" is pronounced sookah :P

I don't think it should bug people who don't speak Russian. I'm just very disappointed, like d3d said, that no one saw this to pick it up in the month or so before it was printed, instead of the day of printing. :(
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 5:14pm
I agree with you to a point, phyntosia. At first glance I thought it was really cute and the fact that it had Russian on it made me happy. And then I saw the mistakes and it was very disappointing. I probably would have bought it otherwise.

The United States and Canada both have a much larger Russian-speaking population than non-Russian speakers would realize. If the point of the shirt really is that no one would realize what the non-English sentences were saying... French, Italian, and Russian are not the languages to choose. :P

Page:
1 2
(65 comments!)


You must be logged in to leave a comment.
My gallery photos

All about me
Tees:
The One Who DescribesPast, Present, and Future - Threadless, Best T-shirts EverBlow With The WindAdorable DisasterRoadside PicnicLions Are Smarter Than I AmBad ReceptionThe Communist PartyFall_ingWell, This Just Really Sucks...MotovinoOne Handprint Of NatureShiver Me TimbersRelative SpeedHow Many Licks?Runnin' RhinoIn Pachydermic FashionStone JungleMotovinoThe Rebirth of VenusRenaissanceFake Pandas Have More Fun - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever

Hoodies:
Sharp is RelativeTree TownBEarth

Selects:
Royal Intrigued Series 1Strange BirdsIn Oceanic FashionGrowth For The Sake Of Growth

Gifted:
Haikus are easy but...If you can read this make me a sandwichEnmity Gardens - Threadless, Best T-shirts EverPaper CranesWhat would Macgyver do?A Field With A DreamBreaking The Sound of MusicDog FightBobshoppingBedrest - Threadless, Best T-shirts Ever