Chuyên May Đo: Specializing in Clothes Sewing
January 11th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Askew, askance. The way that it’s been put up, I think this sign looks in need of some confidence!
These letters have been carefully handpainted on a whiteboard, but the board itself been hastily attached to an old metal railing, that hangs and droops into the alley. In the back you can see the yellow signboard that announces the same sewing shop, this time directly in front of the house. Signs like these announce to folks traveling down the main alleys that there is indeed a full commercial life tucked away in streets barely four feet wide.
I especially like towards the bottom, the letter P. Did you notice that it’s the only one written in lower case on the entire board? I also find the letter G a bit strangely written, but I can’t put my finger on it. Is there something weird about that vertical stroke? I think the way that the diacritics have been aligned on the word “nữ” are especially beautiful. Back in the day, when penmenship was a strong focus in the Vietnamese curriculum, students were taught to handwrite beautifully, paying carefully attention to the placement of diacritics. Penmenship is such a lost art these days! In relearning Vietnamese, I’ve learned some rules about writing diacritics (i.e. always place them over the second vowel in a pair), but I’m no pro. The way that the tilda diacritic aligns perfectly with the little whisker at the U is especially nice. Compare that with the more haphazard accents thrown over the previous A’s on the board. With the bottom phrase, the use of underscores both on the left and the right make it seem like a gentle announcement: “fashion clothing.” I always thought that this sign looked a bit like the Futura font, no?
The word “Đo” unfortunately is spelled incorrectly, which only adds more to its charm. It’s mis-spelled in the same manner on the yellow sign in the back. It should be spelled “Đồ.” But I didn’t even realize this when I originally saw the sign. I only realized this mistake once I had snapped the photo and looked back on it on my computer.::shrug::
