{"id":59817,"date":"2023-07-25T10:43:19","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=59817"},"modified":"2023-07-25T10:43:19","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:43:19","slug":"oil-separator-cooker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=59817","title":{"rendered":"Oil separator \/ cooker"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I entered the\u00a0Airbnb where I'm now staying, one of the first things that caught my attention was the following utensil:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were many puzzling aspects to this device.\u00a0 First of all, I couldn't tell whether it was an oil separator or an oil cooker, or both.\u00a0 Second, I wasn't sure what the primary language of the writing was, Japanese or Chinese — there are elements of both (cf.\u00a0this recent Language Log post<\/a>).\u00a0 Couldn't tell where it was made either, China or Japan, I guess more likely the former.\u00a0 Then there was the bizarre English:\u00a0<\/p>\n

REMOVE DIRT AND REMOVE DIRT FROM SCRATCH<\/p>\n

COMES WITH A THIN MESH MESH MESH<\/p>\n

And mysterious notes like this:\u00a0 WITH THE DISHES<\/p>\n

After pondering the last item for quite some time, I decided that this kitchen gadget must be a bonus item that came with a set of dishes (M. m\u01d0n \/ J. sara \u76bf).\u00a0 They were probably giving them away because nobody knew what to do with them.<\/p>\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\n