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A slogan t-shirt is a must-have in any wardrobe. Wearing one is an excellent way to make a statement, tell a joke, advertise a product or celebrate your favorite band without actually saying anything! Some slogan shirts have become all-time icons, including “I 'Heart' NY” and “Keep Calm And Carry On.”

But what if the scribble on the t-shirt makes zero sense? Well, the chances are it ends up on this very entertaining and utterly hilarious Twitter page called “Poorly Translated Shirts.”

With 187k followers, the account is dedicated to sharing the most random collection of shirts that were “lost in translation, found across the world.” Below we selected some of the best ones so pull your seat closer, everyone!

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Scott T Brynildsen
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He's actually a really great guy. My dad knew him when he was still alive and Joe would take the same train home every night to tuck his children in because he'd lost his family. He has many degrees and is ridiculously smart, the problem is his brain is working so fast his words don't always keep up with his thoughts... good thing you're so slow and have to talk s**t on the internet like a twelve year old girl. Must be nice for you to be able to hide on the internet instead of feeling the pressure from being of the most powerful person on the planet. Maybe show some respect, kid.

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Amanda Rose
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Which vegetables are we talking about here? A girl needs to plan her dream home.

Kurtis Karr
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From an old pic of the slogan on the back of a suspicious-looking van.

Adam Francis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids." – Joe Biden

DramaNerd
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Reminds me of the time my softball coach accidentally said drugs not hugs

Denver
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don’t do drugs, eat your vegetables, stay in the simulating. I MEAN SCHOOL

EJN
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's red so it's a MAGA fake of a shirt for Biden. Notice the attempt to make Biden sound anti-education, pro-drug, and possibly pro-vegetative state for people. More lies from the right.

P0tterN3rd08
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why everyone hating on the conservatives just bc we have a different political belief doesn't mean downvote us. Your parties all about equality so show some compassion. We don't downvote you lolll

Autistic McWolferson the Forth
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Love how someone found a way to sneak in a bootleg MAGA quote/joke into BPanda. I guess fascists gonna hate when their guy isn't in power.

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Today, no real fashionista can imagine their wardrobe without one, two, or too many slogan t-shirts. This very casual piece of clothing has been allowing people to subtly send messages since as far back as the 1960s, so it’s not a modern invention of hipster-powered wear.

According to Harper’s Bazaar, the trend of slogan t-shirts began in the 1960s when a shop called Mr Freedom on King's Road in Chelsea sold Disney-inspired slogan tees. British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood took this trend a step further the next decade with politically motivated t-shirts.

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However, only in the 1980s did the slogan tee really come into the spotlight with English designer Katharine Hamnett's infamous politically charged t-shirts.

"That T-shirt gave me a voice," Hamnett recounted of the iconic moment she shook hands with then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher while wearing a t-shirt that read '58% don't want Pershing', an anti-nuclear statement. Hamnett's t-shirts became instant hit among the crowds and they were copied everywhere.

Today, slogan t-shirts are still a must-have staple. Many fashion brands, including luxury fashion houses like Dior and Saint Laurent, are creating their own versions of the t-shirt.

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Meanwhile, poorly translated shirts subvert the idea of carrying a message on a shirt by deliberately not making a lot of sense. Poorly Translated Shirts is part of the Good Shirts project, which began as an Instagram account documenting the strange and fascinating shirts its creator found in Hanoi, Vietnam.

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“While living in Hanoi, I became obsessed with these strange shirts that bore corrupted versions of famous company logos, misjointed platitudes or complete nonsense text vomited all over a T-shirt,” the creator explains on the Good Shirts website.

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According to the description, they sought them out at every marketplace like a thrifter searching for a hidden gem, though the gems they desired were not typically beautiful, but strange and rife with mistakes.

“Still, there was an accidental beauty to the shirts I found, something profound and hilarious-without-trying. Over time, as the Instagram page grew and as submissions poured in from all across the world, the theme of the account began to change to a more all-encompassing fun T-shirt enthusiasm. Today, I post shirts that, accidentally or on-purpose, make me laugh.”

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The Twitter page of Poorly Translated Shirts is home to 187.9k followers who come in for a daily fix, and it seems like the account’s audience is still growing. It’s easy to see people’s fascination with absurdity in such a mundane form like a t-shirt. Both rich in history and totally without, these poorly translated shirts speak to the audience who don’t expect much except hilarity itself.

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