These are from 2002: instructions nowadays aren't usually so unnerving.
A road sign on the Beijing Avenue of Eternal Peace advised: "To Take Notice of Safe; The Slippery are Very Crafty", a warning that the pavement was slippery.
A sign in a Beijing park reads: "Little grass is smiling slightly, Please walk on pavement."
At a Chinese eatery near the British embassy, diners can choose "bean curd with feeling" or "special fumed fish".
Signs at railway stations often state: "Take very good caution over pocket pickers."
Coca-Cola first tried to market its drink with the Chinese characters "Ke-Kou-Ke-La", which translated as "Bite the Wax Tadpole". Corporate chiefs in Atlanta ordered an emergency rebranding and the Chinese now drink "Ke-Kou-Ke-Le", meaning Happy Mouth, Happiness.
One hotel, in a link to the days when Maoist commissars took a dim view of sexual relations between unmarried couples, has been confusing visitors for decades with a piece of paper on their beds saying: "Decadent songs and actions that go against decency are not allowed here."
English instructions on a packaged candle: "keep this candle out of children" and on a model boat "please don't place it in dusty play".
Chinese Superglue claims to "bond daily domestic goods and interior gooks", adding "give a slight moisture on to the wild surfaces when difficult to bond".
An article, translated from the People's Daily, attacked foreign journalists writing about life in China.
It stated: "It's far from enough for these correspondents to make copy and paste, and they must always be eagle-eyed and pull a long ear."
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- 18 Jan 07
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Originally posted by Sicilian SausageMy idea. I realise that the temptation to just dive in is very tempting, but as a sysadmin I've seen too many cases of what happens when an over-confident luser does not read the instructions. The result is often not pretty, and I'm expected to clean up the mess.
"Always read the instructions even if you don't follow them".
ie. take some advice of someone who has done it already. If you don't follow that advice then no problem. It just might save you a lot of time or even making an irrevocable mistake.
Richard