Posts Tagged ‘kanji’

The Reason Why It’s a Little Patronizing to Print Towaway Signs in Japanese on Sutter Street

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

These temporary towaway signs for a stimulus project on Sutter Street near Octavia are close enough to Japantown I suppose, but the idea that it’s remotely possible that this translation would be of any use to any driver is laughable.

It’s a nice gesture, though, I suppose.

But, as stated, it’s a little patronizing…

“Meat Day” is Coming on March 29th – How Will San Francisco Celebrate?

Friday, March 27th, 2009

The signs in the windows on Post Street tell the story – MEAT DAY is coming this Sunday, March 29th.  If this is all you can see, then it’s tough to figure out the meaning. The only clues are bull, rooster, and pig icons along with Chinese characters that literally mean “meat day” or “day of meat.”

But this is in Japantown, so the pronunciation “Niku no Hi” can also sound like “2-9 Day“ - “ni” is the voicing for “two” and “ku” is one of the ways of saying “nine.

Mit-te [look]! It’s Meat Day! Click to expand.

The upshot of this is that Nijiya supermarket at 1737 Post near Webster, just across the street from the haters at 1600 Webster, is taking 20% off the price of any meat you buy, one day only.

Is fish included? No, ’cause meat is meat and fish is fish.

Why isn’t it 29% off? Good question.

Is the 29th of every month Meat Day? Don’t know.

Are ham, sausage, deli items and advertised sale items elegible for 20% off too? Another good question – the answer is no, those things are not included in the celebration according to the fine print.

But isn’t there a pig icon in the poster? Yes, good point.

What about bacon? All the kids are loving the bacon these days, right? Perhaps, but don’t know.

Crooner Morrissey says that “Meat is Murder.” What about that? Yes meat CAN be murder, on your pocketbook that is, so you should take every chance to save save save.

See you Sunday at Meat Day!

Lyrics after the jump

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