Cewebrity

Very occasionally I spot a blogger out in the wild, foraging for food or dodging ushers or whatever: Albert in the opera standing room, Marc at sfSounds, Robert at Alarm Will Sound, Steve at a Tomness recital, Cedichou at a Merola performance. Then there was that strange syzygy when, for just a moment, the heavens put me, sfmike and JKos on the same square meter of the Davies lobby at Flowering Tree.

Most of the time I give them wide berth—you never know when a blogger on the loose is going to charge!—but when I happened upon Jon Rahoi with his two beautiful children piled on top of him (literally, one on each shoulder it seemed) wandering into Genki Crepes on Clement this afternoon, I decided to say those words that no blogger ever expects to hear out of the blue:

"Uhhhhh.... Do you have a blog?"

Poor guy seemed utterly stunned about being recognized. Plus the cashier was trying to get money from him, his kids were calling out for Dad and egg waffles, and here's this total random standing next to him telling him how entertaining his photoblog with extraordinary specimens of Manglish (mangled English on Chinese products, menus and signage) is. So, in honor of today's cewebrity encounter, I dug up a couple of Manglish samples from my modest collection.

It's a curious state of affairs if a turtle can come before you—even when you're frist. (I'm still kicking myself for not getting a picture of that guy wearing through a Taipei mall wearing a t-shirt that said "SPREAD YOUR LEGS—to all you virgins, thanks for nothing".)

One of my favorite. pieces of apparel. EVER. (Tx, SFist Rita!)

What a sweet sentiment on the front of a greeting card, no?

I wonder why I never found this card in Hallmark racks in the US? But then inside...

Um, what are you implying here? Why, just this morning I was just thinking of getting some more O'Mr. Skin Chapeaux.

Comments

[cedichou]

No need to give me wide berth. Please charge next time, lest I charge first.

[sfmike]

You, me, and the Kosman within inches of each other? I'm surprised our heads didn't explode like in Cronenberg's old movie, "Scanners."

[Alex Shapiro]

I've been a Rahoi fan for quite a while. Wonderful stuff!

You have a distinct advantage in the blogger-stalking business: you actually know what most of us look like, thanks to our pitiful photos being splashed on our pages from time to time. You, however, reign supreme in your mystery. Now THAT'S true cewebrity.

And speaking of which, I'm heartened to see that my husband and I are not the sole users of that coined term. Like you and I'm sure countless other blogizens, I tee-heed myself silly when I first came up with it. A word whose time has most definitely arrived.
At least, on the web :-))

[magpie]

I once got a memo from a Japanese employee that began "Firstable" (first of all). Okay, it wasn't on a billboard, but it's still one of my favorite manglings.