Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Austrian Sign Language

During a recent snowboarding trip to lovely Austria, I discovered again my feelings of bewilderment towards this confusing little country. This is in relation to
a/ their sense of humour (see picture 1 and 2 for reference) and
b/ their use of the german language...
Click to enlarge. And enjoy.

a/ 1.: "Attention. Snowbunny coming from the right!"


a/ 2:"Careful. Bear on the loose!"


b: I read: "In winter – skiing without decency!" Now, this may be a little tricky to translate but I'll try. What the Austrians are trying to say here, is "in winter – skiing without queuing (at the lifts)". The Austrian sign maker thought to himself: 'Anstehen' ('to queue') may as well be called 'Anstand', cause this Austria and we make the rules. Therefore, he continued to think to himself, 'anstandlos' = no queuing. However, 'Anstand' actually means 'decency' (in Germanygerman, that is) , 'anstandlos' = no decency! No wonder all German tourists are rowdies!
p.s.: What's with the cows??? Below 2020m they go upside down?

Saturday, April 3, 2010