Friday, May 25, 2007

Bad Inglish

The sign said simply “Towel Counter”.

I stopped and pondered this for four days in our hotel in Aqaba Jordan whilst covering the visit of US Vice President Dick Cheney the other week. I have become so used to the butchering of the English language that miss spellings on everything from menus to road signs are just a way of life.

But for the life of me, I could not get around this “Towel Counter” I mean is there someone who actually sits in this hotel and counts towels, one two three four. It was something that just bugged me. I could read it, it was spelt correctly and yet what was the mystery of this “Towel Counter”

If your saw a sign that said “Towel Counter” what do you think it implies?

I await your responses, please comment me back to make sure that I am not losing my grip on the English Language before I reveal the mystery.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Mal,

How about the easy and obvious. A counter (i.e. a desk or location where you obtain some item or information such as the travel counter). This counter would provide towels such as ones you use for the pool or whatever. Keep up the good work, it's always interesting to check it out. By the way in the small world department, I was talking to my co-worker, Bruce Storm and told me he had run with you while he was on assignment in Isreal. Take care and keep safe.

21stCenturyMom said...

I was also thinking it was the counter where you get a towel but you didn't really tell us where in the hotel you saw this sign.


But thanks for letting us know where Dick Cheney is. He has been the most invisible VP we've ever had - especially when he shoots someone in the face.

FlutePrayer said...

Found this in an Indonesian hotel review after a Google search:
"The swimming pool is deep and spacious. It is really nice and you can borrow some books (Probably, the guests left these books.) from the towel counter for pool side reading."
http://www.asiarooms.com/reviews/inna_putri_bali-hotel-review/121771.html
Must be a pool thing...

Anonymous said...

I was thinking something like a place to get or store towels. Maybe a linen closet.