Skip to main content

Signs of Cameroon: the continuing story

A business in 3 Corners Bekondo:
Doctor of Engines: Chainsaw, motorcycle

On a truck:
Don One
[the fun thing about this one is trying to guess what this moniker might mean. Is the truck named “Don Juan”? Is it “done won”, i.e. Pidgin for “I have won”? or is it something else entirely?]

On the menu at Handicraft Restaurant in Bamenda:
Bonne Appetit
Scrabble eggs
Marshed potatoes
Avocardo bread

Roadside sign in Bamenda:
Church of Christ
Service Center
(my question is whether the service centre is part of the church or completely unrelated but sharing the same sign. I suspect the former, but it’s amusing to consider the latter.)

Businesses in Bamenda:
Never Mind Cold Store
Second Hand Tenis Shop [This is a shoe store]
World Trade Center [A store selling appliances, as best I could tell]
Confidence Man: Provisions/Cold Store

Business in Santa:
Titanic Photo

Business in Yaounde:
God’s Bussiness Centre

Packaging on small-serving cookie packets:
Parle-G: “World’s Largest Selling Biscuit”

A bridge crossing a river on the plateau between Loum and Dschang:
Black Ouata
[Say the second word out loud to hear what the river is really called]

Painted on a hearse travelling the Buea road:
Last Jouney

At the crossroads in Ekombe:
Cold Wa
Ter

A small shop close to the taxi park in Ekondo Titi:
Unity Fashion Shop
Ping Centre

In Mutengene:
Boomerang Barbing Sarloon

At the Melrose Hotel Le Prestige:
Help us to serve you by your constance payment in advance.

Come one come all.

You are not suppose to carry away our hotel property. Mostly in your rooms.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That's great. Don't you just love when the English language is so hilariously butchered!? I personally will not frequent establishments that have grammatical errors in their printed, laminated, and PAID FOR signs. Surely someone should have proofread them first!

FYI... we read your blog all the time. You sure do have some interesting stories. Thanks for sharing.

Liv (Kris' wife)

Popular posts from this blog

Money

The high incidence of money talk here is surprising to me, given the scarcity of either hard cash or savings accounts. Not that no one has money here, but living a basically subsistence existence off a jungle farm with only one major crash crop a year means you never have a whole lot of cash -- either on paper or in hand. We're currently entering the season of money here in Bekondo, when the cocoa crop is mostly harvested, dried and sold to buyers. Christmas is party time, not because of Christ but because of cash. It's a lively time for parties, running a generator to power lights and music, trucking in drinks to flow with goodwill. It's the time when schools put their foot down and demand tuition fees be paid or students leave. It's a time of increased crime because people are travelling to visit family and money is around. Taxis double and triple in price -- because they can -- until December 25th, after which the frenzy abruptly stops and prices return to normal (so...

Infidel again

I just finished reading Infidel and I have to say I greatly respect this woman. What a story. And what a character, to have endured it all and emerged a determined, principled, passionate but not bitter or unyielding woman. A quote from her book: People are always asking me what it's like to live with death threats. It's like being diagnosed with a chronic disease. It may flare up and kill you, but it may not. It could happen in a week, or not for decades. The people who ask me this have usually grown up in rich countries, Western Europe and [North] America, after the Second World War. They take life for granted. Where I grew up, death is a constant visitor. Which reminds me -- on a related topic, one of the things that bothers me about Islam is how often its followers' reactions to offences are so disproportionate. A Western journalist composes editorial cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammad; violence erupts in the Middle East, including attacks on the Danish and Norwe...

The anti-bike blog

OR I do not think [that word] means what you think it means It has become a weekly, almost daily occurrence. A how-to article or blog post will come across my path – usually in my facebook feed – touting the wonders of winter cycling. Not one to learn a lesson quickly, I keep clicking on them. Inevitably, I navigate away in frustration. It’s fun! It’s easy! Anyone can do it! You don’t need special gear; you can even look chic while you’re doing it. Oh, and get off your high horse – being a winter cyclist doesn’t make you special. This is the message of all these articles. Lies, I tell you. Now, far be it from me to dissuade people from cycling, but I think we may need different words for the varying circumstances that fall under the umbrella term “winter cycling.” Take Vancouver and Seattle, for example, where bicycle enthusiasts will talk about “winter” cycling. I’ll grant you that a bone-chilling, relentless, drenching rain is its own special brand of miserable to bi...