Thursday, July 30, 2009

Funny Shirts in Costa Rica

I would make this blog about funny t-shirts in Costa Rica if I had the temerity to snap photos of strangers in the street. Costa Ricans often wear t-shirts with English writing on them, ones they purchase from the local Ropa Americana store (which is a store that carries second-hand clothes from the United States). Often the locals don't understand what's on the t-shirts. Case in point, I saw an older (white) man strolling down a main walkway in San José donning a shirt that read:

"Look out: Here comes one pissed off black woman"

You might not find gems like this every day in Costa Rica, but the prevalence of North American clothing mixed with the subtleties of a foreign language make situations like these all but inevitable. If you spend enough time in Costa Rica, you're bound to get a few chuckles here and there from ironic clothing.

It's quite common to see people wearing old sports t-shirts and jerseys for teams that are explicitly for the opposite sex of the person wearing it. You might also see someone wearing a humorous t-shirt that says, "Smooth Operator" or "Why am I so thirsty if I drank so much last night"? In most of these occasions when I have known the person wearing the t-shirt, the t-shirt owner did not fully understand the message and, in many cases, would not have purchased the t-shirt having known what it meant.

If you have any ironic t-shirt stories from Costa Rica or elsewhere, please share in the comments.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was a PC volunteer in Costa Rica in the early 1990's. One of the t-shirts I loved seeing a big beefy Tico was, Proud Girl Scout. Wonderful ropa americana.

Thomas Carmona said...

Jaja! That's a good one :)

Man, I have seen a lot of stuff of that nature. It's nice to hear that someone else can enjoy the irony with me!

Jonus said...

Currently serving PCV in CR. One of my favorite experiences was when during PST the neighbor's son came over wearing a shirt with a picture of a saddled rooster and the caption "Free C*** Rides". The kicker is that said young man has Down Syndrome, is 28, and is the son of a preacher. I was speaking with him in the presence of my host brother who is a pilot with decent English. All the while trying not to laugh and wondering if I should be the one to say something.

PS: Great Blog!

Anonymous said...

While living in Costa Rica as an exchange student, my host dad frequently wore a shirt with a bull on it. Below the image, it said 'Horny in Texas".

Jared said...

saw a guy with an ex-lax shirt in san jose

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Unknown said...

Well, I haven't yet been to Costa Rica, but there were a great deal of nonsensical t-shirts in China. One I wish I'd purchased from a walmart: a purple shirt with a picture of a smiling bar of soap that says "rub me on your hands!"

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