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phyntosia
phyntosia aka Ruth is a 25.54 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!
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d3d
   d3d on Apr 15 '08 at 5:24pm
maybe you didn't notice there's also english on there. a lot of people speak that too.
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 5:33pm
point?
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 15 '08 at 5:49pm
that misspellings or not, the shirt is printed. deal.
d3d
   d3d on Apr 15 '08 at 5:58pm
you're saying i picked the wrong languages to try and appear mysterious, but what languages would you suggest, and where do you suppose i'd have found speakers of rare dialects? i think it's pretty obvious that even assembling those 4 relatively common languages wasn't entirely successful.
courtney pie
courtney pie on Apr 15 '08 at 6:07pm
...or that. lol
cassandraclue
cassandraclue on Apr 15 '08 at 6:17pm
d3d--none. I don't really see how foreign languages are mysterious. But you said "the point is to enjoy the mystery, not explain it," so there ya go. :)

courtney pie, the way i'm dealing with it is not buying the shirt... whereas if it had not been misspelled, i would have bought it. :(
Flippinheck
Flippinheck on Apr 15 '08 at 6:28pm
So much for what is traditionally a fun and happy time for a Threadless designer - the week his design comes up for sale.

I know some of you, especially Phyntosia, are simply airing your disappointment, but after a while these comments cease to be constructive (i.e. next time let's catch these mistakes before they're printed) and start being just a whole lotta cold water.

It's done. I'm sure nobody feels more disappointed about the mistake than Leon does. Can we move on?
phyntosia
phyntosia on Apr 15 '08 at 9:01pm
I completely agree with you, Flippinheck. I feel really bad now that I even brought it up, and the only reason I haven't deleted this blog is that at least it'll still be here if the tee gets reprinted.

d3d, I'm truly sorry for throwing so much cold water over what is really a very awesome design and shirt; and, like ladykat initially suggested, I am thinking about buying it anyway and just using some fabric paint to tweak the spelling (although I have NO clue how to use fabric paint, but now is always a good time to learn, right?)

And 99% of people who see this shirt won't have a clue how to read Russian and will go on loving it regardless, just for the beauty of the design. :)
d3d
   d3d on Apr 15 '08 at 9:17pm
yeah, i don't see any point in deleting this blog either since you made the same comments on at least two blogs and on the original sub itself.
JustDucky834
JustDucky834 on Apr 16 '08 at 12:14am
long story short. Seeing italian made me smile as sincec I have returned to the States from Italy , I don't see the language nearly enough.

Also, I love the drawing in this. Your designs basically rock my world. :)
phyntosia
phyntosia on Apr 16 '08 at 12:21am
Ok, that sounded like a personal attack...I was trying to apologise. My comment on the sub was an initial reaction, before the design was even for sale. And my only comment in another blog about this design, was:

phyntosia on Apr 15 '08 at 4:01pm
I think maybe the Russian (third line) should mean "A riddle is very interesting", although I'm not 100% sure.

Hence:
I prefer that i do not understand,
The unknown one is more captivating, fascinating,
A riddle is very interesting,
Show me something new.


I'm sorry if you found this offensive.
2 days later
Savage Companion
Savage Companion on Apr 18 '08 at 9:49pm
I work with a bunch of russian speaking people and I would rock the hell out of this. I'm not about to let strangers or mild aquaintances dictate what i purchase.

engrish shirts are great.
d3d
   d3d on Apr 19 '08 at 12:27am
that's the spirit
45 days later
vishwithoneh
vishwithoneh on Jun 03 '08 at 10:39pm
so if you're in america and are wearing a tee with an american slogan that's misspelled or gramatically incorrect, does that make you cool and exotic because people assume you bought it in another country?
103 days later
crystal@painterjoe.com
crystal@painterjoe.com on Sep 15 '08 at 10:18pm
this blog makes me want the shirt. i think it says
"i don't know the words
but that's super keen
i'm a mystery machine
now show me a language i can't eff up."

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