Seeing pinyin when it's not

[dalaowai]

I'm back in my home country and I've been experiencing weird situations where I see pinyin on signs when it's in fact English. For example, the other day my wife and I drove by a strip mall, which had a Chinese supermarket. There was a big sign that said "WAXING" beside it. When looked at each other confused, trying to figure out what "WAXING" might be and if it was a new product of some sort. I drove by a second time, only to see that there was a beauty salon right beside it, and the sign was for hair removal. haha

Have any of you experienced seeing pinyin in English?

[imron]

I often find myself pronouncing Youtube with the Chinese pronunciation of you.

[dalaowai]

I've done that too! Youku might be influencing that perhaps.

[OneEye]

Pedestrian Xing.

[dalaowai]

that one's perfect, as 行 can mean walking, which pedestrians tend to do.

[imron]

I don't think youku is a factor. I think it's more to do with being in china since before YouTube was around. I've been pronouncing it like that well before I knew of youku.

[heifeng]

yeah, the 'Ped Xing' always gets me too...sometimes the women sign on the restroom gets me too..i somehow think 我们 when I see it,then it takes me a minute to snap outta it..

[Xiao Kui]

In my hometown in the US there's a Bugui glass company, and since I've lived in China I always read it as bu gui = inexpensive. there's also an abbreviation for Christian, Xian, that I always mentally read as Xian, the city. I know there are others but this is what comes to mind at the moment.

[FadedStardust]

I live in an area with a large Spanish speaking population, thus a lot of signs are dual language English/Spanish. Everytime I see que (pronounced keh) meaning what I automatically think 确 as in 确定 haha. I've also had Women/我们 moments.

[gato]

In my hometown in the US there's a Bugui glass company, and since I've lived in China I always read it as bu gui = inexpensive.

There's sort an opposite example in the Xintiandi shopping area in Shanghai. There's an Italian restaurant there called "Va Bene" ("going well", if my Latin is close). But "va" sounds like the Shanghainese word for "no" and "bene" the Shanghainese word for "inexpensive". va bene = not inexpensive = expensive, which it is.

[chrix]

About "Ped Xing" I have a funny story to share: I had just spent a year in Taiwan and had come to the States for the first time in my life, and I was quite impressed that they would have bilingual markings on the roadways in Orange County... hehe

[Lu]

Seen today: the sign actually said something like 'The way outlet', but because there was a pole standing in front of it and I only took a quick glace, it seemed to say 'This way out 了'.