However, unlike the products being imported from the US, most teenage clothes shops in France, Spain, & Italy, will dazzle customers with their own versions of English translations - often badly. Some classics: ‘take me to beed’; ‘naughty but spice’; and the ever popular, two handprints over the chest & the caption ‘hands off’ - rarely seen on anyone above the age of 10.

While living in France I was once lucky enough to receive some underwear with the very coy caption: ‘What’s your name?”. Now, being the liberal Brit I am, I hate to say it, but, surely you should know that information before anyone reaches your nether regions…

Another great example (again in France) of public naievity regarding the English language was an English pronunciation coach on a prime-time ‘pop-idol’-style TV programme, tuned into by millions of people each night, repeatedly shouting the phrase “butt-naked-banging” (from a then popular chart hit by Shaggy), like a drill sergeant in order for her students to repeat with correct anunciation.

Priceless. (Or, as an Italian T-shirt I once saw said: ‘I cost $5′).

Your blog is terrific and your topics are well thought out, and it’s great to find a blogger from Zamora. One of my favorite restaurants in Mexico is there–let me know if you’d like to know which!

Have you seen my blog? Maybe you’d like to put a link to it in your blog roll. It’s at http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com. Let me know if you do, please.

All the best
Cristina
Mexico Cooks!

I transmit an excerpt from someone who is thinking the same thing, in Kenya. His email was titled “Kenya, where DARE tshirts go to die”
An interesting facet of life for an American living in rural Kenya is that more than half of the clothing that people wear is shipped over here from second-hand stores in the US. It can be a bit disconcerting to see a gnarled, white haired old farmer, working in his field barefoot but wearing a relatively fresh looking salmon colored polo shirt embroidered with “Stanford Golf Team”. Another favorite of mine was a 70 year old toothless grandma wearing a long skirt and head wrap made of traditional Kenyan fabrics combined with a pink t-shirt stating: “You can look but you can’t touch” in sparkling purple letters across the front. Aside from the funny combinations of people and their clothes, it’s also a window into what sorts of things Americans are getting rid of. I’ve seen a substantial number of old prom dresses from the states transformed into the somewhat gaudy Sunday best for church-going Kenyans, as well as lots of t-shirts from middle school sports teams – I guess pride in your 5th grade basketball team only lasts so long. Another popular fashion around these parts is 9/11 themed apparel. Dramatic depictions of bald eagles, American flags and the towers may have gone out of style in the states, but not here in Kenya where they are still a sought after fashion statement… However, the most common single t-shirt that I’ve seen here is the ever classic black with red writing “D.A.R.E. to say no to drugs”. I’m not sure what this says about the success of the program in the states, but they are definitely succeeding in spreading their message extremely widely.