Mystery French brass railway sign?

[32475]

Any ideas anyone about the origin of this old sign I just bought off eBay? It’s probably from a railway carriage but the real appeal was the naive mistranslation into English. Given that such signs were manufactured in probably fairly large numbers, it’s amazing to think that someone was entrusted to make the translation and nobody else concerned was any the wiser! It measures 7x10 cms

 

[Gloster]

Probably off the box that the handle for the communication cord was housed in. As it is probably quite old (post-war reconstruction) they probably ordered large numbers and just kept going whatever. It is in French, which is all that really matters, “Faut qu’ils apprendre la francais.”

 

[32475]

Probably off the box that the handle for the communication cord was housed in. As it is probably quite old (post-war reconstruction) they probably ordered large numbers and just kept going whatever. It is in French, which is all that really matters, “Faut qu’ils apprendre la francais.”

Absolument Monsieur Gloster. Je suis d’accord!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There seems to be another example available on Ebay priced at EUR12 (unless it's the same one). Presumably a salvaged item and not a reproduction.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Could it be Wagon Lits? The engraving looks old but the English translation just sounds wrong. French colonial perhaps?

 

[The exile]

Any ideas anyone about the origin of this old sign I just bought off eBay? It’s probably from a railway carriage but the real appeal was the naive mistranslation into English. Given that such signs were manufactured in probably fairly large numbers, it’s amazing to think that someone was entrusted to make the translation and nobody else concerned was any the wiser! It measures 7x10 cms
View attachment 157922

In the last respect, nothing has changed. The translations (not just into English) displayed on various official railway notices (and elsewhere) is often somewhere between laughable and positively misleading.