If not, let's for now say it pertains to the incidence of (usually funny) misuse of English language.
It sprung off the combination of various types of lingustic mistakes that are common among Far Eastern English speaking locals.
There are several direct reasons for said distortion:
» Three most prominent language groups in East Asia are Chinese, Japanese and Korean. None of these distinguishes between phonemes R and L. In most cases both R and L are represented by the same graphic symbol. Difference, if recognised, is assumed to be an alternance or a dialectal nuance. Over millenia this 'limitation' became a racial feature - Asian kids rarely possess an innate ability to hear and, eventually, verbalise the difference. Being half-Korean myself, I've had some of these difficulties until early adolescence. The feeling is quite strange when you articulate an R, and hear yourself pronounce an L ;)
Tokyo Dlift.
R/L jokes are not considered racist, due to overall fairly harmless nature of the problem. Confusing situations are generally wrapped in a comical context when depicted in, say, movies.
From 'Lost in Translation' by Sofia Coppola:
Japanese photographer: - And, uh, 007?
Bob Harris: - He drinks martinis, but okay, I got it.
J - 007, yeah. Loja mool?
B - Loja mool?
J - Loja mool. You know loja mool?
B - Roger Moore?
J - Yeah.
B - Okay. I... I always think of Sean Connery. Seriously.
J - No, no.
B - Didn't you get the Sean Connery one over here?
J - No. Loja Mool.
Note the last dish.
» Another cause would be lexical ambiguity, which often is the very core of a non-alphabetical language. For instance, Japanese official glyph set consists of 1945 different symbols, while obviously the number of words (meanings) used by people to communicate is n times greater. This draws a conclusion there have to be multiple meanings to almost every character. And, Chinese is far more polysemic because it lacks any phonetic mechanism for adaptation of neologisms or foreign terminology. Hence, semantic context is a crucial, and sometimes, the only clue to understanding a particular sentence.
Always recycling.
Your sorrow shall end.
When locals grab their dictionaries and try to pick words that feel suitable, unexpected may occur. It's not very common there to have a native English speaking friend on speed-dial, so mostly an 'average-Joe*-turned-translator' is on his own and has to rely on instinct. If you happen to see a word for the first time in your life, might be not- so-straightforward to decide which is better: gravid or pregnant? handicapped or cripple? Keep in mind it's not easy to cross-check when you have a one-way dictionary, which is the case most of the time.
*) Actually, it would be 'average-Chang' or 'average-Suzuki-san'.
By the honour of Vikings!
Always recycling.
Your sorrow shall end.
When locals grab their dictionaries and try to pick words that feel suitable, unexpected may occur. It's not very common there to have a native English speaking friend on speed-dial, so mostly an 'average-Joe*-turned-translator' is on his own and has to rely on instinct. If you happen to see a word for the first time in your life, might be not- so-straightforward to decide which is better: gravid or pregnant? handicapped or cripple? Keep in mind it's not easy to cross-check when you have a one-way dictionary, which is the case most of the time.
*) Actually, it would be 'average-Chang' or 'average-Suzuki-san'.
By the honour of Vikings!
Play serious.
» Being accustomed to continuous contextual guess-work, Far Easterners fondly incorporate proverbs, poetry and allegories into everyday talk. No-one laughs or feels ashamed if their boss or some politician throws in a philosophic quote like 'life is a twisty road, similar to ram's intestines'. However, translating poetry is a tough task. Even if one has grown confident with their English skills and easily avoids the majority of pitfalls, cultural incompatibility of a reader - such as association mismatch - is still highly probable.
Translation is literal.
The following one is a gem of deeply overwhelming wisdom, I suppose. Shame, I'm not ready to comprehend it. Yet.
It's an actual soap-wrap.
» Sometimes words are chosen for strictly aesthetical reasons. They look good as a whole, or they just contain a couple of nice letters. Meaning is not taken into consideration. Can't blame them - Westerners, to same extent, love placing pseudo-Chinese symbols everywhere. Remember Coca-Cola? When they first entered Chinese market, their hastily sketched-up logo was composed of four ideograms: (roughly) ko-ka-ko-la. It means 'female horse fastened with wax', among other things. Later, they changed the symbols to achieve the present combination: 'something tasty from which one receives pleasure'.
High-tech.
Coca-Cola story shows that how the word sounds is important no less. When your trademark has a nice audible ring to it, it's rewarded with better recognition. Thus, companies apply reverse transcription, and... get unlucky now and then.
White-on-blue reads: misu puuke [meesoo poo:keh].
» One more thing. English is constructed upon SVO (subject-verb-object) syntax, while all three main East Asian language groups use SOV. What's more confusing, semantic context is built by object-chaining (SOOOOV). Failing to know how to properly transform the syntax may result in Yoda-style or similar awkward-sounding sentences.
Two more examples. Not really hard to understand if your mind is willing. It's all about context. A verbose one.
Don't forget to visit Engrish.com
* * *
Now, our own back yard.
What examples of funny Ponglish have you seen?
If none, just make something plausible up.
I'll start with some real life stuff:
'Now we are croing the tomato small bricks' - Gotowanie na ekranie host, late 90s, co-hosted with an American chef.
'A device electric. A touch threatens to death!' - a sign at Elbląg railway station.
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