Come on-a my department store

2005-01-09

Come on-a my department store

I'm pretty sure what they're aiming for here is an English equivalent of "irasshai, irasshai" which is what shopkeepers say to try to get you to come to their stall, or in more recent times what they say to welcome you once you're inside. (The longer version irasshaimase is more common in the later case, though.)

And it literally does translate as "come, come". But... we don't do that in English. There's no "shop greeting", at least to my knowledge. And without a destination or idiomatic companion, "come" sounds like... well, you know.

All that aside, the picture is cute but I'm not sure I understand the sales proposition. Come to the Seibu Winter Market/Fair (西武冬市) and be bitten by a stuffed animal? Come to Seibu and bite a stuffed animal yourself? Either way, I'll pass.

Or maybe it's some kind of no-holds-barred Tyson-style ear-biting stuffed-animal wrestling match... I do kinda wanna see that.

Popularity factor: 6

Anonymous:

see its a pretty good advert, you remebered it and hell your talking and advertising it right here, or there!

you've probably seen a billion ads and out of them all it had to be the two teddy bears that haunt your mind. :)

i guess your not the sort of person that yields to temptation too easily!

Kitto:

You don't think the "Come, come!" is any way related to the ecstatic look on the bear getting humped there? If so, I shudder to think what this would mean about the happenings at the Seibu fair.

Aww come on, someone had to say it.

language:

Come, come -- you surely don't mean to say the phrase isn't idiomatic English, old man!

stacy:

Obviously, it's a cry for rescue. White is being attacked by Brownish-Red! And here you just mock.

Matt:

It's true, I -am- giving them free publicity. But I wasn't persuaded to go there myself!

Kitto: I knew -sombody- would say it for me ;)

Hat: You're right! I'd completely forgotten about that one. Maybe it is just a general call for the public (or specifically teddy bears) to get a hold of themselves and be reasonable.

Stacy: Yes, I mock. Let them eat cake. Or failing that, ears.

Matt:

Oh, man, it's worse than I thought. A commenter at my Japanese blog pointed out that this is a pun: 噛む (kamu) means "bite". 噛む、噛む...

2005-01-09