"Shi"
http://www.shistudio.com (thanks to Jonathan for the photo)
Well designed business cards are necessary to attract potential clients’ attention. Shi Studio recently passed out these cards at a Toronto art show. According to their website, “Shi means poems in Chinese”.
That is absolutely correct.
Unfortunately, that is not what is printed on their cards.
The character on the card is 禅 (or 禪), which means “meditation”, and “shi” (or "poem") should be 詩 (or 诗).
Luckily, they did not make the mistake of printing 屎, which is also pronounced as "shi" but with third tone, on their cards. (Hint: This "shi" does not mean "poem.")
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Associated Press: Lost in Translation
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"Death Wish"
http://www.painlesswayne.com/SCREENSAVER/KANJI%20WRISTS.jpg
This young man wanted "death wish" (or "death" and "desire") to be tattooed on the insides of his wrists. 死 (death) is missing one dot, and 欲 (desire) has been completely butchered.
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"Fraud Blessing"
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51121/high/bmepb168208.jpg
I am not sure if this person wanted 诈 (fraud) or 祚 (blessing) on his arm.
诈 is the simplified version of 詐.
The lower partial in 爱 (simplified 愛) should be 友, not 反.
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"Sisters"
http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51116/high/bmepb166883.jpg
The top character 姉 is a Japanese specific character for "elder sister". Its equivalent in Chinese are 姊 and 姐.
The bottom character 妹 means "younger sister". If the order of two horizontal stokes in 未 partical are reversed and changed the character to 妺, it would mean "wife of the last ruler of the Xia dynasty".
Both characters are somewhat recognizable, but I am astonished by the mangled left partial 女.
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Ultimate Mandarin Chinese
Textbook is one of the basic tools for someone to learn a foreign language. When there are typos in a beginning-intermediate level Chinese textbook, usually students would assume they are “correct” and move on.
I wonder how the editors of “Ultimate Mandarin Chinese” would feel after reading this post, especially when the slogan on its cover says “The Most Complete and Up-to-Date Program Available”.
How about recheck your book with a dictionary?
人 = person
入 = enter