# Can anyone interpret this t-shirt? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 29, 2018, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253 "2018-11-29T06:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/1 "2018-11-29T06:58:39Z")
[Found in a chapter of the manga _Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru_](https://imgur.com/a/wcFPQnN)that was published several years ago. There is of course a strong possivility that it is original to the artist and not based on an existing design, but it still must mean _something_. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/2 "2018-12-01T00:48:45Z")
Well, you have a guy with an erection, some sperm, a bird and a condom hieroglyphics. I guess the condom could be a bee hive which gives something like “the birds and the bees” to go with his guilty look. But I’m no Egyptian scholar. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/3 "2018-12-01T00:54:03Z")
I don’t know about the other symbols, but the one on the top right is an obvious hidden call to Satan, an upside down 666! :eek: “The woman who claims Monster Energy drinks are a tool of the devil is back, just in time for Halloween” [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2018/10/23/the-woman-who-claims-monster-energy-drinks-are-a-tool-of-the-devil-is-back-just-in-time-for-halloween/?utm\_term=.d0c2338cd658](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2018/10/23/the-woman-who-claims-monster-energy-drinks-are-a-tool-of-the-devil-is-back-just-in-time-for-halloween/?utm_term=.d0c2338cd658) :smack: Wake up people!!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/4 "2018-12-01T00:58:10Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Well, you have a guy with an erection… Not that I’d usually favor a less prurient interpretation, but surely top left is “man who breaks leg while snowboarding”. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/5 "2018-12-01T03:46:43Z")
I’m wondering if the upper left symbol is a play on [this](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%B0%91) character. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/6 "2018-12-01T03:55:27Z")
A bird under foot is worth 3 in the beansprouts, honey. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/7 "2018-12-01T04:38:42Z")
Looks simple enough to me: Skiing on semen makes birds fly into beehives. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/8 "2018-12-01T05:15:17Z")
Well, there’s a guy with a twisted leg, a bird, and then some sperm about to impregnate a cup of coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/9 "2018-12-01T05:17:25Z")
Y’all really? Those are obviously bean sprouts. Sperms don’t have brains that big.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/10 "2018-12-01T05:20:55Z")
I’m pretty sure the bird is a hummingbird and think it’s not a beehive, but a pot of honey. I’m guessing it’s a play on some Japanese slang on the words for all the drawings. There’s a Japanese language Sub Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/japanese](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanese), you might try posting there. Ah…yeah bean sprouts! Moyashi! Three more to go! Also, it might be read right to left or up and down (right to left) ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/11 "2018-12-01T05:36:53Z")
Or it doesn’t mean anything, it just looks funny or cool. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/12 "2018-12-01T05:42:36Z")
I love threads like this! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/13 "2018-12-01T05:56:24Z")
The lower right could be a pile of shit, with above it not sperm but fumes. The surfer and the bird are going to run into it. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/14 "2018-12-01T06:03:57Z")
I thought of poop, but the Japanese aren’t shy about piles of poop. Tokyo’s newest mascot character: a smiling bright pink turd laid by Japan’s most famous dog【Vid】 [https://soranews24.com/2017/06/09/tokyos-newest-mascot-character-a-smiling-bright-pink-turd-laid-by-japans-most-famous-dog%E3%80%90vid%E3%80%91/](https://soranews24.com/2017/06/09/tokyos-newest-mascot-character-a-smiling-bright-pink-turd-laid-by-japans-most-famous-dog%E3%80%90vid%E3%80%91/) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/15 "2018-12-01T07:25:39Z")
I have decided the stick figure is actually a alphabet character. Does anyone read Japanese? ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/16 "2018-12-01T13:59:49Z")
Can’t read Japanese, but it’s definitely a stick figure. The bottom resembles 大 (dai/big) which is meant to symbolize someone with outstretched arms, but the Japanese (and Chinese) don’t use a circle or oval as a radical (part of a character). AFAIK, it’s only used in Korean. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/17 "2018-12-01T14:33:25Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I have decided the stick figure is actually a alphabet character. Does anyone read Japanese? I do, and none of these are Japanese characters. Nor are they common Japanese pictograms. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/18 "2018-12-01T15:32:38Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I do, and none of these are Japanese characters. Nor are they common Japanese pictograms. I finally saw the image. I think people are saying it’s a rebus. E.g., “bird” could be “tori”, or “cho”. If it is supposed to be a straight reading then you pretty much have to go back to the Shang Dynasty for the bird to resemble an actual bird, “dai” to resemble a stick figure, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/19 "2018-12-01T16:15:31Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I finally saw the image. I think people are saying it’s a rebus. E.g., “bird” could be “tori”, or “cho”. If it is supposed to be a straight reading then you pretty much have to go back to the Shang Dynasty for the bird to resemble an actual bird, “dai” to resemble a stick figure, and so on. Possibly, but the upper left doesn’t look like a simple “dai”. I think the “surfer” interpretation seems most likely, given the bent forward knee and the swoosh below. But which character would that represent? And I have no idea about the two symbols on the right. I’m not exactly an avid manga reader, but I’ve read some and I don’t recognize either as being a common representation of anything. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253/20 "2018-12-01T16:18:43Z")
If it’s meant to be symbols for words (like those kids puzzle books, an eye for "I’ and a bee for “be”) then it needs a local interpretation, as Lingyi says. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-interpret-this-t-shirt/825253.md?page=2)