Wo Shi Laowai – Wo Pa Shui

Here’s a nice little story about a couch that was made in China, which had a tag on it saying that the colour was ‘Nigger Brown’.

“Something more has to be done. We don’t just need a personal apology, but someone needs to own up to where these labels were made, and someone needs to apologize to all people of colour”

Big deal. I am quite prepared to accept that this is a case of poor translation by people who are too proud to actually hire native speakers to QC their work. I’m also quite willing to accept that this is a frivolous lawsuit. That said, however, consider this:

What would be the reaction of The Chinese People if an imported product in China was labelled as being ‘Chink Yellow’? Frankly, I reckon there’d be a national uproar and hysterical demands for apologies to All The Chinese People.