Offensive furniture label traced to China firm

[Richard D]

Source: Associated Press

TORONTO - 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.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18228652/from/ET/

---

As suspected.

[liberal N proud]

1. It is a legitimate color

Most of the world uses "that word" to describe color of things. I found a tube of frosting in the back of the cabinet the other day. My wife insisted there was tomato sauce in there, so I cleaned it out to prove there wasn't and ran across a tube of frosting for Halloween Cookies that was a couple of years old that described the color using "that word"

[speedingbullet]

4. Really?

I know that "negro" is spanish for "black" but I assume that the article is referring to the other 'N-word'. i have not heard of any other uses for it. Admittedly, I don't get out much.

[jobycom]

13. "niger" is Latin for black, and would be pronounced like the racial slur.

It's probably the origin of the word, as well as the origin of the term "Negro." (In Spanish and English).

The N word has been a racial slur for centuries. Most of the uses of it to describe colors or items or place names derive from some pun or some perceived racial attribute. For instance, there was a hill in Texas once called "N.... Head Hill" because the trees on the crown reminded people of an African American hairstyle. They changed the hill, believe it or not, to "Colored Hill" to clean it up, though I've heard (and Wikipedia also claims) that locals often use the old name.

So while the word has been used to describe colors and even market products in other countries, it is still based on perceived racial attributes, if not racial slurs.

[Solon]

12. Nigger is used for color?

I know it was used, around the turn of the century, as a brand name, and an offensive one at that, but not as a color.

[Exiled in America]

26. It was around as a color before it was a slur. One "g"

[Solon]

30. I strongly doubt that the Chinese label maker used a Latin dictionary...

to translate English words.

[Exiled in America]

33. its not an "english" word. And its has common usage in the rest of the world.

[acmavm]

2. I read the whole articles because I was looking for something...

and of course I found it. (This should have never happened but hey, shit happens.)

<snip>

Moore wants compensation
Moore is consulting with a lawyer and wants compensation. Last week, she filed a report with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

<snip>

Money always makes these things better, doesn't it?

Not that the 'incident' wasn't strange. But you know what, sometimes shit happens that isn't supposed to happen. Sometimes people see things, hear things, say things that are offensive. But apparently the old 'sticks and stones' thing doesn't count anymore. Every little incident causes 'trauma' and 'mental anguish'.

We are such a nation of whiny whimpy crybabies. But money, that always makes it better.

GET OVER IT
DON HENLEY AND GLEN FREY

I TURN ON THE TUBE, WHAT DO I SEE?
A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE CRYING "DON'T BLAME ME"
THEY POINT THEIR CROOKED LITTLE FINGERS AT EVERYBODY ELSE
SPEND ALL THEIR TIME FEELING SORRY FOR THEMSELVES
VICTIM OF THIS, VICTIM OF THAT
YOUR MAMA'S TOO THIN AND YOUR DADDY'S TOO FAT

GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT
ALL THIS WHINING, AND CRYING, AND PITCHING A FIT
GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT


YOU SAY YOU HAVEN'T BEEN THE SAME SINCE YOU HAD YOUR LITTLE CRASH
BUT YOU MIGHT FEEL BETTER IF I GAVE YOU SOME CASH
THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT BILLY WAS RIGHT
LET'S KILL ALL THE LAWYERS, KILL 'EM TONIGHT
YOU DON'T WANT TO WORK, YOU WANT TO LIVE LIKE A KING,
BUT THE BIG BAD WORLD DOESN'T OWE YOU A THING

GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO PLAY THAN YOU MIGHT AS WELL SPLIT
GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT

C D5
IT'S LIKE GOING TO CONFESSION, EVERY TIME I HEAR YOU SPEAK
C
YOU'RE MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR LOSING STREAK
A
SOME CALL IT SICK, I CALL IT WEAK

YOU DRAG IT AROUND LIKE A BALL AND A CHAIN
YOU WALLOW IN THE GUILT, YOU WALLOW IN THE PAIN
YOU WEAR IT LIKE A FLAG, YOU WEAR IT LIKE A CROWN
GOT YOUR MIND IN THE GUTTER BRINGING EVERYBODY DOWN

YOU BITCH ABOUT THE PRESENT, YOU BLAME IT ON YOUR PAST
I'D LIKE TO FIND YOUR INNER CHILD AND KICK IT'S LITTLE ASS

GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT,
ALL THIS BITCHING, AND MOANING, AND PITCHING A FIT
GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT

GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT,
IT'S GOTTA STOP SOMETIME, SO WHY DON'T YOU QUIT
GET OVER IT, GET OVER IT

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Yeah-- I saw that. too, and...

as insulting as the term may be, it was unintentional and would be
hilarious if Dave Chappell did this in a skit.

But, hey, any excuse to sue will do.

[tammywammy]

25. Yeah I saw that too

I'm offended therefore someone must pay. I agree she should just get over it.

[jilln]

3. I hope this ends up on this page

<http://www.engrish.com>

But it's ridiculous that this women thinks she deserves money just because her daughter saw the label. I hope the suit gets thrown out.

[Old and In the Way]

5. That is offensive.

But I have seen some pretty strange mangling of the English language by the Chinese. I was in a small rural town one time and came across a public bathroom that had an English sign below the Chinese that read: "shit place". Could have been a rascist...or it could be someone who searched a Chinese dictionary and found this as a descriptor and assumed this was an acceptable use of the term.

Main Entry: nig·ger
Pronunciation: 'ni-g&r
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French negre, from Spanish or Portuguese negro, from negro black, from Latin niger
1 usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a black person
2 usually offensive; see usage paragraph below : a member of any dark-skinned race
3 : a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons <it's time for somebody to lead all of America's niggers...all the people who feel left out of the political process -- Ron Dellums>

[whistle]

7. I have a set of Disney DVDs from China (Hong Kong) featuring

....older Disney cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s. These DVDs have both language and subtitle selections on the opening menu. I can select the original audio which is in English and either other Asian and European languages. I can also make the same selections in the subtitles.

Now, this is the funny part. I played the DVDs in English for my grandkids and I to watch together. I kept the sound level down as to not disturb others in adjacent rooms of the house, so I turned on the English subtitles so I could read along and the older grandkids who are beginning to read could also follow along.

Donald Duck who is difficult to understand anyway, starts one of his typical temper tantrums, squawking away and storms off when he did not get what he was after saying in the audio "Ah shucks...quah, quah, quah!" The subtitle read "Ah shit...quack, quack, quack!"

In another cartoon on the same DVD, Goofy says something which I don't recall, but it ended with "...gosh darn....shucks!". The subtitle read, "...god damit...shit!". I now leave the subtitles off when the grandkids are here. hehehehe.

P.S. these DVDs are licensed by Disney for distribution primarily to the Asian and Australian markets.

[theoldman]

10. We also have some Asian DVDs and they generally use shit

and other words that we consider offensive. Maybe they learned to speak American instead of English.

[theoldman]

8. Reminds me of the poor guy whose Asian name sounded like

"fuck". He had it changed to avoid embarrassment in the US.

[mikelgb]

I had a Phuc Ngo (Fuck Now) in my high school

[Hekate]

20. I hope he chose a nickname for himself quickly

I had a high school friend whose first name was Roosevelt, "but my friends call me Mike." Not that being named for FDR is offensive, but it's not the greatest first name when you're a kid.

Please tell me young Phuc learned to say, "but my friends call me Phil" or the like.

Hekate

[Zywiec]

9. Latest Breaking News?

Someone is offended by something they heard, saw, smelled, tasted, read, touched, etc...

Can't anyone let anything slide without immediately notifying the MSM?

[Solon]

11. I don't know, in this case, it was a mistake, but it is an offensive word...

I mean, it said "Nigger brown", that word isn't used, worldwide, for any context in color. Really, there is no excuse for this type of mistake.

[dipsydoodle]

14. Wasn't too long ago it was was used

here in the UK as a description for dark suede shoes whatever and as a paint code the name of which I think got changed to donkey. To the best of my knowledge it was the USA who made that term a racial slur and hence I don't really see it matters what the rest of the world does with occasional maybe innocent continued use of that word. I'm quite sure we make similar innocent mistakes in the reverse direction.

[whistle]

15. How about limey green HFO pants...

http://www.bwild.com/noname301.html

[dipsydoodle]

17. lol

:rofl:

[dipsydoodle]

18. Out of curiousity

do you still call those things, with which you dig , spades ?

[ccpup]

16. that's a good point

oftentimes, Americans forget there's a WHOLE World out there that doesn't revolve around them and their tortured Politically Correct logic. I speak French as well as English and I can't tell you how many times I used a word innocently only to learn that the French never use it and find it offensive.

Are we, as Americans, now insisting that companies that ship to the US (as well as all around the World) now become completely PC so as to not unintentionally inflict "emotional distress"? Sounds like an innocent mistake and I'd be curious to see how she plans to sue a company based in China. Can one do that over the commonly used (in some countries) term for a certain shade of dark brown? And is she ready to defend her own ignorance and myopic world view?

There are a whole lot of questions here to consider, and many of them point back, once again, to the fact that we, as a Country -- based on how we are positioned both geographically and societally -- tend to view everything through "our" lens and forget that not everyone is using the same lens. We're thus very easily offended. And tend to sue. A lot.

Just my one and a half cents.

[Solon]

21. The US didn't do anything with the word, it was the English...

The word, and the context to mean a black person is over 100 years older than the United States of America. So don't say that it wasn't used in a racial context on the other side of the pond.

[Richard D]

23. I'll say it wasn't . . .

. . . intended to be used as a racial slur in China. Translation using a computer can be so awful if you don't know the language. Imagine trying to translate from English to Chinese characters using a computer. Havoc is almost guaranteed. All it takes in translation from a computer is the slightest bit of ambiguity and you have a totally wrong or inappropriate word. And the person doing the translating via computer - well, just sees squiggles on the screen that make no sense at all.

I spent 4 months in China. Somewhat after my first month my translator asked me if I knew that I had been saying "diarrhea" instead of "thank you". Just a slight difference in pronunciation and inflection. He didn't want to tell me earlier because he didn't want to upset me. And I just thought that the waitress who kept on smiling at me when I was saying what I thought was "thank you" was attracted to me.

[Solon]

31. Oh, I agree...

Given the culture the label was printed in, this is a mistake, however, its not really excusable considering that all they had to do is find ONE person who was educated here, and speaks English like a native, to actually review any printed materials.

[kskiska]

19. There are loads of business named "La Concha"

In Argentina they snicker at this, because down there, it means "p*ssy." Should Argentine women all sue?

[Solon]

22. Only if the word is perjorative, and not just "nasty"...

If the word was Puta, I don't think snickering would ensue.

[Bozita]

24. Ford Pinto sales were sluggish in Brazil. Then Ford learned that "pinto" was slang for ...

... tiny male genitalia.

Hear that, Hummer owners?

[phylny]

27. Not as fun, but the Chevy Nova didn't sell in Spanish-speaking companies.

No va -> It does not go.

[Richard D]

28. But funny about that . . .

. . . is that the best gasoline grade there is called "Nova", so I suspect an urban legend there.

[phylny]

32. Ah, you're RIGHT!

http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp

[Viva_La_Revolution]

29. I thought it was the Nova

"no go"

:shrug:

:rofl: