A while ago, there were several posts on Language Log about the IPA being used in contexts other than linguistics (opera singing, music schools, ads in Germany and Japan, etc.). Here in Vancouver (where I’m spending my sabbatical), I found two more examples, both in Chinatown.

This one appears to be a rip-off of Olympus — or is Olympus making t-shirts now?

This is not a particularly good transcription example, but it’s the coolest thing: “[murmur] is an archival audio project that has collected stories set in specific locations throughout Vancouver’s Chinatown.” There are also [murmur] locations in Toronto (the original) and Montréal.