A Sampling of Chinglish (Foreigners Speak Funny English! NYT post below) reached #1 on the NYT most popular e-mailed list earlier today. At one time some thought the NYT to be a newspaper with some standards. NYT readers might even had assumed themselves to be better informed, more educated, and of higher class than some gal who reads the local rag. This e-mail list certainly brings that into question, but then again maybe folks were e-mailing it to show the effects of a newspaper desperate for readership.Imagine if a US politician, especially a Republican or someone from the Tea Party, had made fun of the language of non-native speakers or some other group. Imagine the holier-than-thou, snobbish editorial we'd have read in the NYT.
Here's a link that shows funny non-native speakers mangling the written language from a different perspective. (Thanks to Dave and another commenter)
4:45pm Edited to add: And here's a hint of how it feels to be on the receiving end.
