Busy day today, so I'm bailing out with a fish shot from the smallest, most crowded barrel of them all: Beijing real estate advertising. I didn't even have to whip my camera out for this one; they were actually handing out these cards in front of their kiosk at the mall, so I was able to take it home and scan it (I know, right? What a dork. I just really love this stuff).
It's typical of the brutal one-upmanship in Beijing real estate advertising. Here's a partial listing of some billboards in our immediate neighborhood, each declaring their superiority loudly and superlatively:
"Grasse Town will lead the way of building Chinese New Town by learning from the world advanced town mode"
"Only for the elites who are influencing this world. Best Apartment in Asia Pacific Expect Pure Brilliance"
"Discover the New Value of Villas"
"Competitors Triumph Before Street"
"Large Chance of Capturing Pleasanty surprise of Groping"
And yes, lovers of the English language who are more anal than I may be saying, "But Empi, I'm not sure if the OED lists 'one-upmanship' as a word, and I'm not really sure you can say 'superlatively'. Isn't this just a pot and kettle thing here?" To which, I'll admit that I hang my head in shame, with a pained memory of the time I made fun of the advertised "Toxotes Jaculator show" at the aquarium, only to find out later that it's an actual fish species (also sometimes called Toxotes Jaculatrix) that only SOUNDS like it should be rated NC-17.
So lest I stick a lower appendage in my masticating orifice again, I took the time to do a quick hit on dictionary.com and learned that percipient actually is a REAL word. What, you didn't know that?
The sign STILL doesn't make sense, but like I said right from the beginning, when you pay attention, you really do learn something new every day.
The sign STILL doesn't make sense, but like I said right from the beginning, when you pay attention, you really do learn something new every day.
Posts
