I made a recent trip to Kisumu to visit some friends this past weekend to get away from school for a short time. I was meeting a friend at the sports grounds in Kisumu so I found a place to sit in the shade till I got a call from her. At one entrance, the one where I was sitting, there is roughly 10 express passport photo stands just seconds walk from one another. While waiting I began to read and noticed something peculiar about the signs advertising for passport photo printing. Most of the signs had the same message, but their were three that caught my attention. Express Passport Size Digital In 10 Minutes,” “Express Passport Size and Photos After 10 minutes”, , and finally “Passport Size Express Digital For 10 minutes.”
After reading the signs I knew I had to take a picture of each. When I got to the last one “...for 10 minutes” the gentlemen manning the station asked what I was doing. I informed him of the different signs and the different meaning of each. I then broke his heart and told him his sign is just wrong. It is very bad English and makes no sense. You could say, express photos for shilingi hamsini (50 kenyan shillings). I then showed him the other two signs and explained the difference. Not to long after that, every man that has a express photo booth was standing around listening to my explanation for what is proper English grammar. One gentlemen spoke up and said, “which of the other two are best?” I then replied by explaining what each of them means before giving an opinion. “In 10 minutes” means that the photos will be finished between 1 and 10 minutes. Your window for doing this work is very short. The other sign that said “After 10 minutes” means that the pictures will be finished AFTER 10 minutes. This could mean 11 minutes, 12 minutes, 20 minutes, 2 hours or Christmas. This phrase does not give a parameter when it will be finished.
After explaining each in detail they wanted to know which of the two was the best. I told them “In 10 minutes” and “after 10 minutes” are correct. The gentlemen insisted on knowing which is best so the customers would pick that one. I said using “In 10 minutes” tells the customer it will get finished fast, under 10 minutes.
While I am writing this recap of the event I am noticing that as a whole, all three signs have bad English aside from the “in, after and for.”
This was definitely a fun experience. I wonder when I go back if any of the signs will be changed.
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