Many of you will remember my blog with this picture!
Yesterday, I went to drop Praveen (Aricent) at the airport as he was returning to India.
On the Finnair counter was this notice:
Sadly, old habits die hard. When I see mangled English text, it sort of riles me.
The traditional mistake of Finns writing English is that they capitalize You and Your, etc. This capitalisation is only when referring to God (and in India, one's mother). Another common mistake is te absence of the definite and indefinite articles as tey do not use them in Finnish.
Another traditional mistake in this notice is the misuse of the "arrival to" instead of "arrival in".
But the two really classic and hilarious mistakes in this notice are "morningsift" instead of "morning shift" and "immidiate" instead of "immediate".
Another possible misuse is the use of the word "shall" when it should be "will".
The use of "I shall" and "We shall" is when you use it as something may be done in the future. If you are intending to emphasize that the action will definitely be taken in the future, the use should be "I will" and "We will". This is exactly the opposite in the case of You and He / She / They!
I pointed out the mistakes to a really very charming girl who was at the Finnair check-in counter. She loves Indian Food, is friendly and helpful. If you find her serving you, only when your bags are REALLY overweight will she charge you. But then some of you guys do really have a weight problem! :-)
This sign is most important for our friends as most off you coming through either Frankfurt of Paris are having your baggage held up somewhere, causing yourselves a great deal of hardship. It is best that you check at Helsinki that your baggage is put on to your Oulu flight!.
