Jan 16, 2005

Random pic #9: Keep our city clean



A small concrete public manners reminder along busy Yasukuni Street in Shinjuku. Embedded in a strip of green where a pedestrian crossing cuts through a median, it reads: "If you're going to spit, do it on the grass (not the street)."

4 Comments:

At 1/16/2005 8:48 AM, Blogger eBohn said...

Actually the sign doesn't say all that. Japanese uses grammatical particles that often perform a function similar to noun declension. This helps to fill in words that are left implicit.

With parentheticals indicating the location and meaning of the particles, the sign literally translates to "(with regards to) spittle, (onto the) green." Ahhh, high-context languages...

 
At 1/17/2005 12:51 AM, Blogger John Hill said...

I was there!

 
At 1/17/2005 1:29 AM, Blogger eBohn said...

You were sooo there.

 
At 2/18/2005 3:20 PM, Blogger John Hill said...

Thought you might get a kick out of this link.

 

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