This has been sort of an ongoing issue on whether or not Engrish should be included in this blog. For those of you who don’t know what Engrish is, well, basically it’s English (or an attempt at English) that has gone wrong and usually appears in East Asian Countries but can appear throughout the world as well. If you need an example, the post below this one entitled, “Great Wall of China Sign Fail” is an example of Engrish. Now I know this might skew the results a bit but I personally think that Engrish should be included on this blog because it’s still a failure of the English language regardless if the people who created the signs are native speakers or not. After all, that’s what this blog is all about… FAIL Pictures of the English Language. Well they obviously failed at it.
Anyway, I’m going to conduct a poll to see what your thoughts are on about this topic. Hopefully the results will provide beneficial information into whether or not Engrish should be included or not on this blog. A follow-up post will be done in the near future. Thanks everyone! 
[poll id="2"]
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8 
646
Engrish was the first of its kind and I still miss an easy way to get easy and frequent updates with RSS (since engrish.com doesn’t support it). It’s also often the funniest, with its unparalleled “WTF Factor” (example: http://www.engrish.com/detail.php?imagename=girlfight.jpg&category=Adult%20Engrish&date=2004-06-09), so I vote YES.
Don’t get me wrong, Engrish is funny. Engrish is not what I come here for though. I like seeing the everyday errors that we see all across the US. I doesn’t amuse me as much when Non-English speakers make English errors.
I agree with Mitch, although I voted for “sparingly”.
Incidentally, simple and obvious typographical errors are in my opinion just not as thrilling or entertaining as the other Fails (handwritten, iced, letterboards, et al.).
Engrish fails are unique, and they don’t seem to be very….. not sparingly used on this site. (How’s THAT for an English fail? Whoa.) Anyways, perhaps Engrish Fails should be marked with the phrase “Engrish Fail” to show that they are a little bit different than the other material. I think they should stay, however, I voted yes.
There are already many Engrish sites around. I like this one because it showcases mistakes by people that should know the language.
Laughing at sign from people who don’t speak English is like laughing at a small child when he gets words wrong. It’s just cute and they don’t know any better.
This site should be reserved for incompetence.
I don’t mind the occasional bit of Engrish since some of them are genuinely hilarious, but there’s sort of a “fish in a barrel” aspect to it in general. “Oh look, people who aren’t at all familiar with English syntax and grammar got something wrong! Who’d have thought that could happen?” The regularly funnier and more appalling English Fails are from people who ought to know better.
I voted for “sparingly.”
I voted yes, but I think that only very severe and funny Engrish mistakes should be posted, not minor ones.
We non-native English speakers tend to make some mistakes, but 1)There is a limit in things that can be forgiven and 2)You have to be ten times more careful when you’re preparing something that will be used commercially. If your english knowledge is not sufficient, hire someone to do the translation for you.
I say only use the Engrish fails that occur in America.
Sparingly. Some things just aren’t funny (see 7/2, “A Messed Up Disclaimer” for an example)- the language is stilted and awkward, but the intelligent can “fill in” the proper translation.
I much prefer the entries where it’s obvious that the fail is committed by a supposedly “perfect” English speaker.
i can’t seem to vote
but i’d say NO
because there is already an ENGRISH blog -that has a daily upload
It’s just not funny after seeing it so much. I say, unless you’re fluent in this other country’s language and wouldn’t make grammatical errors in it, then you shouldn’t make fun of theirs in our language. That goes for imported product instructions, foreign cuisine restaurant menus that attempt to translate, etc.
The point of that sign’s English was to warn English-speaking tourists about a safety hazard. I’m sure that people understand it and are grateful for the attempt.
What I enjoy(?) seeing on this site is the idiocy of native-born English-speakers who have no clue about grammar, spelling or complete sentences. Stick to that! There sure are plenty of examples…
The problem I see is when you start to say, “I’m not going to accept any Engrish.” How do you know that’s what it is? English-speaking countries are full of people who can’t speak English. You can’t know for sure whether the person who put up the sign was a) a non-English speaker; b) an English speaker with no grasp of the language; or c) an English speaker who was just having a bad day.
Mistakes are mistakes, no matter who made them. As long as it’s not 100% Engrish, I’m satisfied. You know the English-speaking natives will continue to give us enough material to make fun of.
I was sent to this site as the other site is being shut down, I suppose. Anyway, the other English Fail site just posted pics. What IS the purpose of this site?
I think that one reason Engrish should be posted would be because that’s just the reason why it’s funny: people who do not fully understand correct usage of the English language trying to write something coherent. Sometimes it’s hilarious! We’re not laughing (at least I’m not) at the inability of the writers to correctly use English, but we’re laughing merely at the comical result of their translation.
I’d bet some nations have a heyday with some Americans trying to speak or write their language.
@Steve,
The purpose of this site is exactly the same as the other site where people submit photos of messed up English, such as spelling or punctuation mistakes. I simply just bought my own domain and hosting and moved the blog to a new address because it allows for more customization.
For some reason, I can’t vote in the poll.
Anyway, I’m not really all that into Engrish here, not because I don’t like it, but because Engrish sites are a dime a dozen.
I like this site for its native fails.
I’m all for posting official Engrish – people who should know better than to use Google Translate for signs posted in government buildings, and so on. However, I’m more inclined to feel sorry for the immigrants whose mastery of English is, well, rather lacking, even when I can’t help but laugh at the sentence structure (or lack thereof). If the big shots mess it up in a spectacular way, then let’s see it; otherwise, I’m more interested in how actual native speakers managed not to learn their own language.
I keep seeing all these comments about how people just want to laugh at the poor English skills of “native” speakers. How do you know they’re native? I’d be willing to bet that a good number of the handwritten signs with g-d-awful English were written by ESL speakers. Plus, half of the “Fails” on this blog are just people messing around with outdoor signs.
Like most of you have said, it’s not fair to make fun of people who don’t know the language well, but at the same time, there are some really funny examples of Engrish. And besides, if we were to make a mistake in a different language, they’d laugh as well. But I also agree with the fact that this blog should be saved mostly for the incompetence of people who should know English, which is why I voted for sparingly.
I think they should only use those Engrish fails that truly are WTF moments, or signs from international monuments, because those kinds of signs should have correct English.
I vote yes but sparingly. Some are hilarious and should be posted, but this blog should focus more on people who should know English but don’t.
No disrespect intended, but the text of Poll #2 has enough mistakes itself!
I vote for I don’t care. I don’t care if it’s an Engrish or not as long as it’s funny. I’m losing some interest in this blog when the posts are about spotting a typo or an obscure proper English mistake. Engrish or not it should be amusing at least.
Yes, but sparingly. I like this blog because it puts the spotlight on stupidity from people who ought to know better, not those whose first language is something other than the big E. That said, if something just can’t be passed up, there’s no reason to get all militant about it.
@ Smacky
But being able to spot those obscure punctuation and grammar mistakes inflates our heads to truly epic proportions–we don’t have time for this foreign hogwash!
/sarcasm off
/mostly
I can’t believe how many grammatical mistakes I found in a post on a blog that makes fun of people who make grammatical mistakes. FAIL.