Based in Osaka, Japan, the Galerie department store is no different from any other on the island when it comes to obeying basic principles of decency, but embarrassed chiefs reportedly had to demand the removal of sales signs, when it emerged their use of English was not entirely proper.
Thought to have been intended as a pun on the Japanese word ‘fukubukuro,’ which means ‘lucky bags,’ signs were plastered on windows at the Galerie advertising a ‘Fu**in Sale’ worth 20 per cent.
Most shoppers who could read and understand English were said to be bemused by the signs, while a handful of visitors made complaints, which resulted in the removal of the signs. It is unclear why the marketing division responsible for the signs sought to use an English expletive to describe the sale, but it is presumed that they were unaware of the word’s precise meaning or interpretation.
Here at The Sussex Sign Company, we appreciate the difficulty faced by those who attempt to employ foreign language in shop signs. Sometimes, a missing consonant or punctuation mark is all it takes to convey an entirely different meaning from that which was intended. As in the example above, some words simply should not be used at all!
