Council officials agreed on the wording then, as all official signs in Wales have to be bilingual, emailed a translator, who responded with commendable speed. A few weeks later, council workers installed the new road sign:
Unfortunately, the Welsh text reads 'I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated.'
Thank you David Evans for drawing my attention to this. As you don't have a blog (and you really should) I have no qualms in stealing this story.
I considered posting this myself, it really made me laugh - but as someone who works in print and as made more than my fair share or typo's over the years - I decided not to tempt fate.
ReplyDeleteI was brought up in Wales, I hated the language ( it's really, REALLY hard! ) but my cousin Lise liked it so much she went on to become the first ever Welsh speaking Miss Wales, she went to school with David Thewlis and I went to school with Ian Rush, which makes us equal.
When I was at school all the smart kids learned to speak welsh so that they could get jobs in local authorities, if you were a Welsh speaking secretary you could earn 3 or 4 times the average - and this is even before the Welsh National parliament....job's for life etc.
see comment above
ReplyDeleteI'm such a clot - it wasn't David Thewlis - it was Rhys Ifans.
I had to get up out of bed and boot up the computer to correct myself there. I would not have been able to sleep otherwise.
Hi Steerforth, thanks for the shoutout - however I do have a blog http://highwaycyclinggroup.wordpress.com it's just about cycling so it's of no interest to anyone who doesn't like cycling, therefore we're back to square one.
ReplyDeleteHope you are well.
Cheers
David
Tragic. And linked.
ReplyDeleteHillarious! Imagine if it were a secret codified letter from his lover.
ReplyDelete