Translations Gone Awry!

"Teeth Are Extracted by the Latest Methodists"

So reads a sign for a Hong Kong dentist.
Translating a message and getting the right meaning is a problem for all cultures.
The following examples illustrate...

●    A Polish menu: "Beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion"

●    In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers: "Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension"

●    In an attempt to add prestige to the labels of products for sale in China, a Japanese firm included English translations on its 
      labels.  A few examples:
                                                "Liver Putty"                                  (Japanese equivalent of spam)
                                                "My Fanny"                                   (brand of toilet paper)
                                                "Strawberry Crap Dessert"             (ready-to-eat pancakes)
                                                "Specialist in Deceased Children"   (slogan for a pediatrician)

●    Sign in a Rome doctor's office: "Specialist in Women and Other Diseases"

●    A Zurich Hotel: "Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the
       lobby be used for this purpose."

●    A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest: "It is strictly forbidden on our Black Forest camping site that people of different sex,
      for instance, men and women, to live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose."

●    A Swiss restaurant menu: "Our wines leave you nothing to hope for"

●    A Tokyo car-rental firm's driving manual: "When passengers of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn, trumpet him melodiously at
      first, if he still obstacles your passings, then tootle him with vigor."

●    A detour sign in Japan: "Stop: Drive Sideways"

●    A sign in a Hong Kong hospital bathroom: "Please don't stand on the toilet seat."

●    And finally, truth in advertising in a Copenhagen airline ticket office: "We take your bags and send them in all directions."

Sources:
The authors; Charles Goldsmith, "Look See! Anyone Do Read This and It Will Make You Laughable," Wall Street Journal, November 19, 1992, p. B-1; "Cook's Travelers' Tales," World Press Review, June 1994, pg. 26; "Some Strawberry Crap Dessert, Dear?" South China Morning Post, December 9, 1996, p. 12; and a lecture by Michael Harris Bond, Chinese University of Hong Kong, March 28, 2000.