I haven’t posted on here for more than two months (too busy with work / family / moving and writing efforts have been diverted largely to this) so I’m putting up a few funny signs as a stopgap. These are not really “Chinglish” – more odd cross-cultural creativity.

We’ve been going to a shopping complex called Solana quite a bit over the summer. One of the restaurants has this sign next to their outdoor seating area. There’s nothing much wrong with the English here, of course, I’d just like to know why they thought they had to make this sign in the first place. Was there a customer who insisted on talking on the phone outside during a thunderstorm when there are plenty of perfectly good indoor seating areas nearby? Was he hit by a freak thunderbolt which somehow missed the nearby high-rise buildings with lightning rods? Did his grieving relatives sue the restaurant? I’m sure you think this explanation is ridiculous, but I’m struggling to think of a more plausible one.