Can anybody read this?

[jonesthecurl]

I think it's a corporate logo, from somewhere in Africa (posssibly the Sudan)

[Symmetry]

Are you being kidnapped? Looks like Arabic text underneath at least.

[jonesthecurl]

I think it is. It's from a cap which I'd happily wear if I'm sure it doesn't say "All Americans are bastards" or some such.

[Symmetry]

Where did you get it?

[DoomYoshi]

Read it from right to left. The first word is when (mata). The next word starts with li-, which is a definite article. However, the noun is a mystery. The final word is impossible to tell what the first letter is. However the rest of the word is either taqus or taqs which means ritual or weather.

I think you put it all together and it means "I love Bryan Adams in the soup".

[jonesthecurl]

Mrs The curl was given it on one of her business trips, when she was doing her consulting thing.

[2dimes]

So they are probably suggesting they are a shelter from a storm...

What company provided the gift?

[jonesthecurl]

I don't remember. I'll ask Mrs tc when I remember - she's off in NYC at the moment.

[jonesthecurl]

Here's a clearer pic.

[jimboston]

Anybody can read it, but not everybody can read it, and apparently nobody here can read it.

[DoomYoshi]

I appreciate the bigger picture, but I'm still faced with a few problems

• the text is highly stylized and fuzzy. Consider the letter ط - it looks like a blobby mess
• the middle word starts with a letter which I thought was the l-ligature, but is actually an incomprehensible letter. No letter in Arabic drops below the line in the initial position like that. The drop below the line must be an accent, but it doesn't look like a recognizable accent.
• I don't know Arabic and I'm deliberately wasting your time

[Symmetry]

The first set of rotational characters read:

"World" or perhaps "Existence". The seond "The end of a thing" or "once a thing meets a limit". Inverted it's just "death".

The third is simply the Inca word for the entire lyrics of the song "Wonderwall" by the Britpop band Oasis.

The Incas were ahead of their time in a lot of ways, but I liked them before they were cool.

[jonesthecurl]

Don't you have to read it backwards? That would make it "llawrednow".
Which curiously enough is Welsh for "everybody's voting communist".

[Symmetry]

Don't you have to read it backwards? That would make it "llawrednow".
Which curiously enough is Welsh for "everybody's voting communist".

It all makes sense now!