N.B. – This was published in Asian Correspondent (July 15, 3:55 p.m.) where I write a column (Philippine Fantasy)

I should start with an apology for being 24 hours late in uploading this installment of funny signs. As you may already know by now, a typhoon hit the Philippines last Tuesday (July 13) resulting in a brownout late that night that hit much of Luzon (one of three island groups in the country, the other two being Visayas and Mindanao).

Marikina City (where my wife and I live) was also hit hard by the typhoon even if Metro Manila was only under Signal Number 1. There were reports of trees, billboards and signs falling due to the strong wind.

Obviously, the wind was not strong enough to add another “s” to this sign.

The province of Quezon was also affected by the typhoon. I wonder if this sign is still standing. Notice what’s wrong with it?

Let’s talk a closer look.

Since this bank is apparently service-oriented, I would like to give this free editorial advice: Please use “microfinance-oriented” instead.

This next sign is a case of “inappropriate abbreviation,” if you get what I mean.

It’s better to just spell out “Pls” because there’s enough space for three more characters in the first line anyway.

For our next sign, we have a case of a “misused hyphen,” and this time you know what I mean.

By this time, you should know the case of a “missing space.”

What about awkward diction? Can you see the wrong word used in the sign below?

Strictly speaking, the word “finds” refers to “a discovery, esp. a valuable or gratifying one.” Not surprisingly, the word is normally used for items found during the digging of trenches or from field-walking, as in the case of an archeological discovery. In the context of fashion, I’m not sure if there’s something to be discovered as most of the fashion-related items are advertised.

When I took a light rail transit (LRT) train to go to a meeting in Makati last July 5, I saw this sign. Did the typhoon blow this away? I hope so.

There’s nothing grammatically wrong with it, but why did the LRT management post this very obvious sign? Spitting in a public place is obviously a sign of bad manners and Filipinos do not need to be reminded of that. If the LRT managers want, they could come up with a rule imposing fines on those caught spitting and remind passengers of that through a sign. But if they prefer to have signs like “No spitting,” they mind as well write the “apparently obvious” (what redundancy!) at LRT stations also:

• Trains don’t arrive on time. Be patient.
• Don’t use your credit card as a train ticket
• Use only Philippine currency
• Speak only in English or Filipino

I also saw this sign at an LRT station.

Loose translation? “Littering is prohibited. Put in the garbage can.” This is a case of awkward sentence construction in Filipino. To remove the awkwardness and provide some politeness, it should read: “Pakilagay sa basurahan ang inyong basura.” Its loose translation is “Please put in the garbage can your garbage.”

For our next sign, we obviously don’t need any translation. Then again, you may want to ask…

…what is the nature of our concern? By the way, is this sign addressed to all passengers or just the janitors?

For our last sign, I am happy to tell you that there are efforts by a few establishments to correct any misspelling.

Notice the deleted “d” at the end? I thank my sister-in-law Francia for this picture, even if she took it at the time when the sign has been corrected.

More funny signs next week. Thank you for reading!