Every few years, I seem to come across some hilarious local instances of the English language being used awkwardly on business signboards. I remember encountering a sign in George Town that said GLASS Museum but from my point of view, the letters had been covered up partially and all I saw was ASS Museum.
It was in 2002 that the English chess grandmaster, Nigel Short, came to Penang and I was waiting for him at the CitiTel in Penang Road. One of the outlets in the hotel was a florist bearing the name, DE'FLOWER HOUSE. Needless to say, Short and I had a good laugh seeing it. A year later when I happened to be back in this hotel, the shop's proprietor had removed the offending DE' from the sign.
About 10 years ago in Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Sultan, I was amused to see the signboard above a shop there with the name DESPOTIC. Whatever they were selling, I wasn't particularly keen to find out.
Then just last night while walking along Gurney Drive here in George Town, there was this shop that prided itself on being called DAD'S WOODS. Now, I don't know whether the owners were aware of it, maybe they are, but having a WOOD is slang. I had posted this picture on facebook but so far, nobody seemed to have caught onto this shop's unintentional(?) gaffe.
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