Engrish

I love Engrish.

I found some notes I took in Greece in 2005. Among other trivia were some Engrish expressions from a menu in an Athens taverna:

"Fresh proposals to escort your drink" (appetizers)
"Spicy Suggestion" (a hint of spice)
"Hot Meet Collection" (spicy meat entrees)

Prayer in the workplace

I happen to work from noon to 20:00. It's an annoying shift because evenings are essentially spent at work. Less importantly, I love the 24h clock and that's why I wrote "20:00" instead of "8:00 p.m.". The whole "p.m." bit is annoying to type all the time. 20:00 is unambiguous and modern. Disorienting? At first, yes. But then you remember a few landmarks and everything falls into place. For me it was that 6 p.m. is 18:00. Or just remember: 3 p.m. is 15:00, 6 p.m. is 18:00 and 9 p.m. is 21:00. After that, add or subtract an hour to get appropriate times. One hour before 18:00, when normal people get out of work, is 17:00. One hour after is when crappy TV gets into full gear: 19:00.

I was at work the other day. It was 18:00 and everything was quiet. Most people except those with retarded shifts had gone home. All of a sudden I hear what I believe to be a heated discussion coming from one of the rooms no one usually uses.
I listen more carefully and it's someone chanting. I get up and stroll by, and I discover that it's someone praying. To Allah.

I'd always wondered if my company had a prayer room. But maybe this was just some dude catching a quick one while he thought no one was looking. Maybe that's part of the thrill...

In any case, I don't know where I stand on the issue of prayer rooms. Part of me rejects the idea outright as an appeasement measure for the religious fundamentalists. But maybe it's just a question of being tolerant: it doesn't hurt anyone to pray, even if it seems completely arbitrary and out of place to me.

Anyway, the picture above is a bit of religious vandalism that I caught on camera at Sheppard station.