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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Furniture With Racist Labels Traced to China |
| 2007-04-20 |
| Doris Moore was shocked when her new couch was delivered to her home with a label that used a racial slur to describe the dark brown shade of the upholstery. The situation was even more alarming for Moore because it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out "n——- brown" on the tag. "My daughter saw the label and she knew the color brown, but didn't know what the other word meant. She asked, 'Mommy, what color is that?' I was stunned. I didn't know what to say. I never thought that's how she'd learn of that word," Moore said. The mother complained to the furniture store, which blamed the supplier, who pointed to a computer problem as the source of the derogatory label. Kingsoft Corp., a Chinese software company, acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error. "I know this is a very bad word," Huang Luoyi, a product manager for the Beijing-based company's translation software, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He explained that when the Chinese characters for "dark brown" are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive N-word description comes up. "We got the definition from a Chinese-English dictionary. We've been using the dictionary for 10 years. Maybe the dictionary was updated, but we probably didn't follow suit," he said. |
| Posted by:Jackal |
| #15 I am SO SICK of this crap. Nigger. Nigger, nigger, nigger. NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER. nigger nigger fo figger, banana nanna fo figger, fee fi fo figger, nigger. Nigger please! There! I used this awful word 12 times! Are there twelve dead people out there because I did so? NO? Have the laws changed to reinstate slavery? NO? Then maybe it's time to get off the reverse racism horse and get over it. It's a word, and a word that black people say all the time. Either get over it and just treat it like any other word, or get serious about banning it and have EVERYBODY stop using it. NO PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT BASED ON RACE, which is what this whole brouhaha is about. I'm emancipated from this white guilt horsecrap and I don't want to hear about it anymore. See the link: http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/gift.html |
| Posted by: Mac 2007-04-20 21:18 |
| #14 Put the couch up for sale on EBAY - I know an actor from Seinfeld and a few rappers who might put in a bid. |
| Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723 2007-04-20 18:26 |
| #13 STEP AWAY FROM THE CUSHIONS ! |
| Posted by: Mattress Tag Police 2007-04-20 16:42 |
| #12 Moore is consulting with a lawyer and wants compensation. Suck it up, lady, and get on with your shattered fucking life. Jeesh lady cut the damn tag off problem solved. Damn. What, and risk being relentlessly hunted down by the Mattress Tag Police™? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-20 15:10 |
| #11 thanks tu3031...book marked it for latter reading. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-04-20 13:57 |
| #10 I expect my next couch to be African-American Brown. Will the material have a nappy weave? |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2007-04-20 13:14 |
| #9 I expect my next couch to be African-American Brown. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-04-20 12:22 |
| #8 I bet it's a fine sturdy couch. |
| Posted by: Strom Thurmond 2007-04-20 08:59 |
| #7 Chinglish. I consider this site the best source on the subject http://www.silverladder.com/literature/chinglish/chinglish.htm |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-04-20 08:56 |
| #6 "It's amazing. I've been here since 1972 and I never knew the meaning of this word," said Vanaik, a native of India. So this is a person who doesn't pay attention to the news? Takes in no popular entertainment? Was completely confused when newsies referred to the "n-word"? In other news, maps of Africa found to be racist, and Spanish textbooks found to be using an out-dated word for "black". Mexican brewers have announced they will only sell "African-American Modelo" from now on. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2007-04-20 06:51 |
| #5 what's the problem here? |
| Posted by: Robert Byrd 2007-04-20 06:41 |
| #4 Jeesh lady cut the damn tag off problem solved. Damn. |
| Posted by: djohn66 2007-04-20 02:36 |
| #3 Saw a flag factory catalogue with a KKK flag in it. Colored contact lenses - change your eyes to blue. "Aryan" brand. Chinese government official: "There is no racism problem in China. We don't have any black people!" The local beer here is called KK beer. They also have K beer. I'm waiting for them to come out with KKK beer someday... |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-04-20 02:16 |
| #2 Ever get an appliance or tool from China and read the instructions? especially 10 years ago. that's called ChinkLish corrrect? |
| Posted by: RD 2007-04-20 02:09 |
| #1 How does someone intelligent know when a slur is obviously of a racial intent. Translate either the English word 'white', 'pink', or 'light brown' into Chinese...is the resulting word a slur to them or us...NO!! Case closed! |
| Posted by: smn 2007-04-20 02:04 |