Things T-shirts Say

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I've been wondering if this is something typically East/Central-European, but around here there's a surprising number of people walking around with t-shirts that have texts on them that are just a bit .. much. Or off. Or random.

I guess it's partly a language thing, where people think something sounds cool if it's in English, but many of them don't speak it well enough to spot whether something makes sense. But I mean, I'm not talking about the famous Thailand-level of Engrish nonsense.. I guess it's also partly the weird nature of the global economy of used clothing. But who knows, maybe it's just trendy? Like, sassy gone somewhat overboard, or a bit of randomness?

Here's a few t-shirts I've seen on the street just these last few days:

Quote:

It's not me, it's you

(Well, that's nice.)

Quote:

If you can't be the sun, be a star

(Um. Who's going to tell her?)

Quote:

Pending issues

(That's all it said..)

Quote:

Pretty girls make ugly liars

(What?)

Quote:

I love you

(Well, thank you. A simple message, but maybe a bit much?)

Quote:

Too cool for you

(Another one from charm school.)

Quote:

I'm too good for my ex

(On a woman in her fifties. Rowr!)

Quote:

But I don't love him I guess

(On the back of a t-shirt. Now I wonder what it said on the front.)

Quote:

I'm going to be awesome today

(Good on you!)

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@nimh,

The main tee shirt guy I've met is PDiddie, from a2k of yore, and now from his own blog. He's a political guy, if you remember. Some of us met in San Francisco, 2004, which seems long long ago. He and I can differ, but I liked him and his wife, haven't seen them for some time. Straightforward guy.

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@nimh,

Well, for a native English speaker, none of these T-shirts are memorable, but neither are they truly awful like on your Engrish link.

If I saw any one of them, I wouldn't think twice. Then again, it's seldom I see a T-shirt saying that isn't just some randomness. They're usually the names of bands and stuff. Wait, actually most of the t shirts I see were giveaways from weekend 5 or 10k runs, or something with a company or sports logo. In other words, items that were probably free.

I've never worn a T-shirt with a saying on it in my entire life, so I really don't get the attraction of them.

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@chai2,

Yeah, me neither. But t-shirts with names of bands on them, for example, aren't random. They say, "I like this band, and I would like you to know that, because I feel it says something about my identity". It's a convenient sign for other people with the same taste to talk to you as well (i mean, when you're in high school for example there are few things as important to Who You Are as what music you like and, therefore, what 'group' you belong to). But "Pretty girls make ugly liars"?

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@nimh,

lol re the band thing. Yeah, I can see if you bought the t shirt because you really like the band. Honestly though, around here, (just north of our Buda Wink

) I think a good portion of band t shirts are 2nd hand and bought because they only cost a couple of bucks. I'm talking about adults, not high schoolers. I have no idea what goes through their minds nowadays.

ok, off topic...that statement you made that "there are few things as important to Who You Are as what music you like and, therefore, what 'group' you belong to"? I 100% agree with that.

The reason I brought it up was that I'm not a big music lover, even started a thread on it here a long time ago. Even as an adult, but especially when you're young, people ask you "What kind of music do you like"? Especially when I was a kid, I would inwardly die because despite the lip service you get that "I can totally respect whatever type of music you like" that is, until you say something that they think is lame. So, you end up giving the non-commital response of "uh, I like all kinds" because if I for instance had actually said "I really don't care one way or the other about any of it" I'd have been doomed to the lunch table way in the corner of the cafeteria. You know, the one with the flickering flourescent light, and the odd smell coming from under the floor.

Oh yeah, not liking the right thing, or not hating the right thing, is the worst thing that can happen to an adolescent. Some grownups forget that.

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@chai2,

I have one of my fav t-shirt that says "I drink well with others."

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Here in southern California I see a lot of t-shirts just printed with surf shop brand names, certain bands, or just small logos from sports companies (hang ten). Sports team t-shirts are popular too - Lakers, Raiders etc. and city names - San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. and of course university t-shirts,
they're real popular.

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Our T shirts are all political.

https://cdn-img-0.wanelo.com/p/890/21a/57b/ddb51d0004d22c59cdbae4e/x354-q80.jpg

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@chai2,

Quote:

I think a good portion of band t shirts are 2nd hand and bought because they only cost a couple of bucks. I'm talking about adults, not high schoolers.

That's a good point, and it's definitely why you see some of the more incongruous combinations of people and the t-shirts they wear here as well. (Spotted yesterday: a 70-or so year old woman looking like she was struggling in life, wearing a Playboy t-shirt.)

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@nimh,

This one made me chuckle the other day though:

Quote:

In memory of when I cared

And this one was an unexpected antidote to all the "Everything's Awesome" slogans on t-shirts:

Quote:

Humbly accept defeat

The t-shirt saying "I'll lock you up" seemed a little ominous though.

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Some more texts on t-shirts, spotted on Budapest streets in the last few weeks:

Quote:

This is my farewell to this ******* nightmare

Whoa. Okay.

Quote:

Fancy a quick one?

Seemed incongruous, worn by a distinctly older woman..

Quote:

I'm not shy, I just don't like you

Well, isn't that nice.

Quote:

You will kill with no words

Again, would probably have seemed less curious if it wasn't worn by a middle-aged lady.

Quote:

Be successful! I am very much

Sounds legit.

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@nimh,

My wife and I went to Sacramento last weekend, and stopped by the Blue Diamond almond factory/store where I bought a gray t-shirt with their logo. I'm wearing it now. I like it because their logo is embossed rather than just painted on, and the logo is the same color as the t-shirt.
We also stopped by in Old Sacramento, because I was born and raised there. It was nice because they had people with period costumes, and covered wagons on the streets.
When I think about Sacramento and the gold rush, there was a German, Schliemann, who became rich, and he sponsored the excavation of Troy.

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I'm back in Budapest for a couple of days, so that means: t-shirts that make you go Huh for a second. In this case a woman wearing a t-shirt that said "More nasty than nice". The claim seemed plausible.

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NSFW (view)

I got this Viz T shirt the other day.

https://www.moretvicar.com/media/product/2018/01/30/3382_18150_w300.jpg

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@nimh,

Coincidence nimh.
Yesterday, approaching the entrance to my local grocery store, a twenty-something woman wearing a black t shirt that said No Time For Fuckboys.
Huh?
Anybody have a clue?

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@panzade,

Might she prefer **** men?

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@panzade,

It means she can't spell.

Quote:

A **** boi is that one 15 year old boy you have on facebook who posts selfies of himself pouting with more than one filter applied over the picture and gets way more like than he deserves.

Typically **** bois have gelled quiffs, think that it is acceptable for a boy to pout in photos and frequently post selfies with their 'six pack' in full display.

They have over 100 likes on their profile picture because they have 2,000 girls as friends facebook and simultaneously flirt with them all, have smoked weed twice yet own HUF socks and post pictures of their Nikes on instagram with the heart eyes emoji as the caption.

**** bois often think that they are cool for bragging about having sex or getting drunk.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fuckboi

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@nimh,

nimh wrote:

Quote:
I'm going to be awesome today

Sadly today. The front will say that. But on the back of the shirt? The text would read something like...
Maybe tomorrow. I'll try harder tomorrow.

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@izzythepush,

Quote:

It means she can't spell.

It was a T shirt Izzy! Laughing

Over here that spelling (boi) is relegated to the fashion world and is already arcane.
I see it (fuckboy)more as part of the Me Too Movement here in the states.

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@panzade,

panzade wrote:

Over here that spelling (boi) is relegated to the fashion world and is already arcane.

The definition was from the Urban Dictionary, it's American.

Quote:

The site was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham while he was a freshman computer science major at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He launched the site to compare urban slang used by university students in different parts of California. He had previously created a spoof version of the Ask Jeeves web search engine while studying at Cal Poly but closed the website after he received an infringement letter. He created Urban Dictionary initially as a parody of actual dictionaries, which he thought tended to be "stuffy" and "take themselves too seriously".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Dictionary

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