Signese

Now this is really misleading.

I know, I know. I just couldn't resist

Perhaps you'd like to try one, Skylee?

I'm so confused. I don't have a shot at the Chinese, and I don't know what's misleading about anything. Unless the first one really means something like

"we'll do what you say," as in "we'll listen to your advice."

Then I'll feel a little better. But I doubt it. Doesn't seem like 人物 has that meaning (I haven't looked it up yet).

OK let me try

1)人物说办 - abbreviation of 國家大人物說要辦的事

2)要要话事 - short form of 政要要人講話中所指的事

3)精整和公 - acronym of 精簡整頓和諧公平

4)神洁气道 - a slogan meaning 炯炯有神廉潔又有士氣就是硬道理

So do we read these left-to-right or right-to-left?

Following Roddy's lead, I'll do #2 and #4.

#2:

"Your wants reflect who you are" -- every want ("要要") says ("话") something about you ("事").

#4:

"Will someone clean our heating system!!" -- Oh god! ("神"), it's filthy, someone clean ("洁") the flues ("气道")!

Oh, I thought it reads:

神精洁，要整气，人要和道，物话工，说事办……

yes xiaocai, that is indeed another way to interpret it.

you guys were reading it the wrong way. It's 人要精神，物要整洁，说话和气，办事公道

Well, now that Outofin has straightened things out, I think I can at least make sense out of it.

Be courteous to others. Keep things in order. Speak in a kind manner. Do things fairly.

Now I get why skylee said roddy was being misleading. Tricky roddy. At any rate, I think I like jbradfor's 神洁气道 interpretation better than the real one. haha

I did say they were invented . . .

Riiiight, now it's starting to make so much more sense, this whole flow. Forgive me, I threw up the shield and armor and turned my head when I saw "Classical Chinese". Pavlovian reaction, you know.

Yeah, I was wondering why Roddy typed in the Chinese that was on the sign in the intro. First time he's done that, should have been a clue to not trust him....

@Glenn, what's wrong, you don't like my translation of #2?

Fff，I can‘t find anything humorous to write about 精整和公 XD。Closest thing I got （though it's not funny）is：

"The essence (精) of neatness (整) is always with (和) the public (公)." Like I said, it sucks.

@jbradfor

I didn't find it was as good as #4. I thought #4 was genius.

精整和公: To be of orderly and fair-minded spirit.

洁整要物 -- we need to go shopping so we can clean -> (clean all need things)

人要精神

物要整洁

说话和气

办事公道

2)要要 = Really, really want. 要要话事 = I really, really want to say something. Pretty useful at a police station.

神洁气道 - to have a respiratory tract so clean it's like God himself washed it. Used to describe people who've never smoked.

@gato, I like your #2 more than mine! I'm going to have to work on this further....

谢谢！加油！