Q. What is Engrish?

A. Engrish can be simply defined as the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design.

Anyone who has been to Japan knows how ubitquitous and quixotic is the use of english in Japanese advertising. Why this amusing mixture is called "Engrish" and not "Japenglish", I can't say. Maybe someone else has an idea.

http://engrish.com

Of course, in France, anglicized French is called "Franglais", but 'the belles-lettres' of French academe don't have as much fun with it as do the Japanese. In fact, they don't have any fun with it at all.*

Any ideas why English is such an effective and disquieting marketing tool all over the world?

Is it a rebellious statement which appeals to the youth - an alternative to walking around with an obscenity or vulgar slogan [vulgan?] printed on your T-shirt -- as our youth do here?

Come to think of it, vulganity might be a useful coinage describing a vulgar slogan [vulgan] used to sell wearing apparel, principally T-shirts, to the youth market.

*Franglais, Le: Forbidden English, Forbidden American - Law, Politics and Language in Contemporary France
by Philip Thody

Synopsis

"A study of the attempt by French politicians to use the law to forbid the use of words of English and American origin. Classifies some of these words and lists expressions in current use in America and England which are particularly difficult to render in French, comparing these with some equally untranslatable French turns of speech. The book should interest students of language, history and politics. It shows how some of Gramsci's ideas on the nature of cultural hegemony look in practice."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0485121158/202-9008328-8843803