Anyone who’s ever learned a foreign language—whether at school or as an adult—knows just how difficult the process can be. Some of the mistakes that you make can seem incredibly funny to native speakers. Meanwhile, there you were, trying your best. But it helps if you look at your own errors with a bit of levity, too.
The r/engrish subreddit takes a lighthearted look at the most egregious English grammar mistakes that were made abroad, whether on signs, posters, or menus. We’ve collected some of the most giggle-worthy ones to show you that the language isn’t as easy to learn as you might think. Scroll down for a good dose of humor (and a reminder to do your daily lessons, whatever language you might be learning!).
#1 What
Image credits: cruise-boater
#2 Snow Shows.get Them Now For Free!!
Image credits: Rohan_bat
#3 After Two Tries, We’ll Just Go With Reduced Prices
Image credits: EndersGame_Reviewer
‘Do TEFL’ points out that in 2022, there were 2 billion English speakers around the world, only 400 million of whom are native speakers.
The r/engrish subreddit is practically ancient by now. Founded all the way back in late September of 2008, it has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. At the time of writing, the community had expanded to over 781k members (or ‘grammar police’ as they like to jokingly call themselves).
#4 They Got The Moves
Image credits: hossambasha
#5 Oh, Deer
Image credits: currencyguppy
#6 You’re Winner!
Image credits: Beautiful_Fishing569
The group itself is all about having a good laugh by sharing spelling mistakes, weird grammar, and messed-up-looking text. Everything’s done in the spirit of comedy, and there’s no meanness here. After all, we’re all human. We all make mistakes. However, not everyone’s errors are strange enough to make the entire internet giggle.
#7 This Hotel Offers Challenges
Image credits: Sci_man_scimon
#8 I Comited A Criminal
Image credits: Lack_Potential
#9 Excuse Me, What The F**k
Image credits: Enderlytra
The moderator team running the group has laid out some simple-to-follow rules to maintain a high standard of quality for the content. For example, they ask the community to avoid posting photos or videos of typos or really minor accidental mistakes. If the author clearly knows how to spell the word correctly, it probably shouldn’t be shared on r/engrish.
#10 73th… I’m Impressed This Came From Such A Global Brand!
Image credits: SakuyaHiwatari
#11 Netflix Server Has Been Die
Image credits: DuskSlayer198
#12 Strange Rice Mouse
Image credits: Vadim2014
On top of that, the mods don’t want to see any posts about mistakes made by auto-correct or anyone passing off intentional mistakes as content-worthy pics. Meanwhile, nobody should be making fun of any grammar mistakes that kids make. Everyone has to start somewhere, it would be mean to poke fun at someone who’s completely new to the language.
#13 No Feet Allowed
Image credits: jjvindaloo
#14 Chewing Cum
Image credits: terrywow007
#15 Pain
Image credits: Smbc_64
Learning a new language—any language—might seem like a daunting task. But in this day and age, it’s easier than ever. Still not easy. But easier! That’s because there are so many learning resources, both paid and free, available if you have even a basic internet connection. There are plenty of books, videos, projects, and apps that make the entire process as pleasant and smooth as possible.
#16 I Hope It Wasn’t Too Big Of A Fall…
Image credits: Grengthang
#17 Eat Chicken
Image credits: Vegetable-Crew-1259
#18 I’m Sorry, What?
Image credits: F1ameXgames
However, even if you have access to all the resources in the world, what really matters is having the patience and discipline to learn. Step by little step. Having a growth-centered mindset really helps here. Instead of getting frustrated at all the tiny mistakes you keep making, try to view them as proof that you’re taking on a monumental task.
And any effort that you put in means that you’re miles ahead of someone who’s decided to quit. However much time you spend on learning a new language, try to do it daily. And remember the reason why you started in the first place. It’ll help motivate you when things get really tough.
#19 Well… They Missed A Preposition
Image credits: opensourze
#20 The Hot Chocolate Machine At My Dinning Hall Has Lost Its Innocence
Image credits: StillDontHaveAName
#21 My Brother Found This While Living In Japan
Image credits: Yeti_toes
Previously, Bored Panda spoke to a journalist and communications specialist who was kind enough to walk us through the peculiarities of English spelling, as well as how spell-check affects us.
“English spelling is such a train wreck, with its myriad silent letters and wildly varying pronunciations for letters and letter combinations. But also, articles (a/an/the) tend to be difficult for people whose native language doesn’t have them, and our tense/aspect blend with combinations of auxiliary verbs makes the English verb system tricky even for native speakers sometimes,” she told us during an earlier interview.
#22 Stop Treating Me Like Potato!
Image credits: CoolGuitarBoi1
#23 Someone Tries To Motivate Us At Work
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#24 Well I Suppose We All Have To Pay To Exist In Someway…
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Though spell check is a great tool for catching typos and misspellings, it’s far from perfect. “Where it’s more of a curse than a blessing is with homonyms/homophones because it won’t flag a word that is a word, but not the word you want. Think affect/effect, who’s/whose, led/lead but also word pairs like form/from and not-synonyms like bemuse/amuse, etc,” the specialist said.
#25 Found This On Fb
Image credits: Lc_crispyswt
#26 Mother
Image credits: celerybration
#27 Hmmm K!
Image credits: username_g0ne
The expert pointed out that English isn’t spelled as it sounds. This is due to a wide range of reasons, including when the words actually entered the language, where they came from, and when the particular spellings were first codified. However, a complete overhaul of the language to make it more ‘logical’ isn’t really possible.
#28 Well
Image credits: Admirable-Poem-1232
#29 Anyone Fancy Some Fruity Cowboys?
Image credits: Dalek_Doh
#30 “Slippageism”
Image credits: EnvironmentalMoney87
“People have proposed spelling overhauls before but they tend to not go anywhere, probably because it’s such a daunting project—could we all agree on what the changes would be?—and because then an entire body of texts would become basically a foreign language to the next generation. Many factors in addition to spelling contribute to a language’s ‘character,’ but some spellings do have echoes of archaic English—in my opinion, it would be a little bit sad to lose some of that.”
If you’d like some more grammar-related humor in your life, feel free to check out Bored Panda’s previous features about the r/engrish subreddit.
#31 Ummm Hmm
Image credits: DireWolf7769
#32 I Feel Motivated
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#33 I Am Vomit
Image credits: JordanHatesEA
#34 You Wouldn’t Download A Fish
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#35 Joe Is Biden?????
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#36 This Masterpiece
Image credits: Timely_Wolverine6337
#37 This Is Where I Had My Wedding Reception
Image credits: keith2301
#38 My Girlfriend Sent Me This Picture From The Directions To Her Round Ice Cube Tray. Whatever 300 Water Is It’s Not Milliliters Because They Aren’t That Big
Image credits: I_Went_Full_WSB
#39 My Tea Of Questionable Ingredients
Image credits: coffeejewess
#40 Wow It Really Be Like That
Image credits: craftilyPlunge889
#41 That’s What Your Mom Said
Image credits: Kawaii_Trap_Guy
#42 This “Warming” On The Box
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#43 Doctor Say They Good
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#44 Do Not (Price: 13.000 Vnd)
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#45 Do Not Disturn
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#46 My Mom Was Looking At Russian Recipes. Facebook Auto Translated One Of Them. Not Sure How You’d Incorporate “100 Years Monkeys” Into A Cake
Image credits: rqrtz
#47 1rd Grade
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#48 Medal
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#49 This Questionnaire At A School
Image credits: Bearleasa
#50 Pervert Cancer
Image credits: [deleted]
#51 Dognuts
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#52 Low Budget Scam
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#53 Wha?
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#54 Found This On A Budget Projector
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#55 Bababa For Scale ?
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#56 W H Y
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#57 L’otters
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#58 ??
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#59 Beware Of Monkey
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#60 Why? Just Why?
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#61 Guys I Think I Got The Wrong Smell
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#62 Served With A Side Of Someone Invading Your Plate
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#63 Ah Yes My Favorite Superhero, Pidmr-Man!
Image credits: Beautiful_Fishing569
#64 Amazon Orders Never Disappoint
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#65 E X T E R M I N A T E C A P I T A L I S M
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#66 Smooth Daughters… ?
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#67 Citizen Soldier
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#68 No Is Not An Option
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#69 The A N D
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#70 Explain Why Ladies?
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#71 Hmm ?
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#72 The Fuck Does This Mean
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#73 Not Only, But Also
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#74 That Doesn’t Sound Right
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#75 Dvd Description
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#76 So Uh.. The Copywriter Did An Oopsie. This Is Quite An Expensive Engrish Mistake
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#77 He Went To Try The Strange Juice
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#78 Not As Bad As You Think !
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#79 Business Must Be Great
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#80 Please. ?
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#81 Pretiy Pleasure Boy “Keep Moyikg” (& Yes I Bought/Own This)
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#82 Posted At A Beach In Sanya
Image credits: Low_Nefariousness484
#83 Unconvinced Machine Apologists
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#84 Subway Lettus
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#85 Would You Like To Learn How To Bleed Or How To Long Hair?
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#86 Crab Raccoon
Image credits: aml63491
#87 From An English-Language Training Webpage
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#88 From A Deck Of Cards
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#89 Understandable
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#90 3 Square
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#91 Sounds Pretty Lid To Me
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#92 Unfortunately Misspelt
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#93 I Had The Best Time In 5rd Grade
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#94 Full Flavour Or Gtfo
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#95 Do Not Animals
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#96 E N D Y O U R B R O T H E R
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#97 Zombies Must’ve Gotten Him Already
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#98 Imagine Meeting All 4 Of The Criteria
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#99 Well, Uh, Thanks For Sharing
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#100 Yikes
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#101 Dot Distab
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#102 The Teeth Well Be Broken
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#103 Suck My Balls
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#104 I Don’t Know
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#105 I’d Surround Those Duckies Any Day
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#106 Out Of Context, A Sentence. In Context, Engrish Candidate. Spotted In A Taxi In Japan. I Still Don’t Know What I Am Supposed To Take Care Of
Image credits: mgsgamer1
#107 R/Badtattoos
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#108 Oh Dear
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#109 Sponge Boob
Image credits: Kabeltraegerx