Let's find funny this week
Yesterday I listened to the podcast linked below by Tim Dillon. and I laughed till I cried. Everyone's sense of humor is different, and maybe it won’t resonate with you, but I love the RAW Americana of Tim’s commentary and his grasp of culture and subculture is amazing! So this week let’s see if I can focus on finding funny stuff to talk about!
Ok, more comedy. My go-to podcast for a good laugh is Bill Burr. A legendary comedian and he has found a way to make two podcasts each week. He records the audio-only Podcast at his house or in a hotel room when he is on the road. His casual rant style is great to listen to and very addictive. He covers life, politics, and sports and does it with both seriousness and hilarious comedy. It is like listening to an interesting character at the sports bar rant about whatever is topical. I love it and look forward to this one each week. He is one of those great comedians who speaks about and confronts issues from the “center” which is refreshing in these polarizing times!
On a serious note here is another video that made me snicker. I have no idea who this guy is. He sounds like a Bitcoiner, Tech Bro who made some cash and is now just chilling out. Anyway, his take on the state of the world is quite interesting and he does explain some things quite well. Worth a listen as it fits in nicely with all the AI talk that has taken over the global conversation.
Ok now on to a few funny things I spotted this week!
The photo below was taken at a supermarket I visit occasionally. I love the sign that is trying to say “We cannot provide change” This is a great English mistake that can be cause for a nice inner laugh while waiting in line. If you say it to yourself quickly three times you will start laughing.
Finally, we have a pamphlet that one of my daughters brought home from school. There is a Bear overpopulation problem in Hokkaido and Sapporo has been experiencing an ever-increasing number of bear sightings. So the education board thought it would be a good idea to educate people about the bears. Good idea except for the mistake in the single line of English printed at the top of the cover page.
This pamphlet has brought me a lot of joy over the last week as I continue to glance at it and repeat that first line out loud to anyone willing to listen. I think my wife is getting tired of it, but it is so good I can’t resist. Not only is the mistake a classic, but the fact that they chose to throw just one random English sentence into the design is something I also find to be humorous. There is not a single other line of English text, yet someone had the great idea to sprinkle in a little Engrish.
Engrish mistakes have always been a target of laughter here in Japan, there are entire Instagram accounts dedicated to finding and sharing these mistakes. No offense to Japan and the Japanese people who are doing their best to include the English language. I am worried that with better translation tools and AI like Chat-GPT these cute and funny human mistakes might disappear altogether!
Thanks for reading and I hope you were able to find something funny this week! See you next week!
Neil
Thanks for the links. We do need to laugh in this world. Maybe the pamphlet is trying to saying the bears are our neighbors. Missing all the marvelous English in print in Japan.