Lingo-ist-ics
Always read the label
A family in Canada has been left in shock, newspapers report, after finding that the label on their new dark brown sofa stated that the colour was 'n*****' brown.
The label was discovered by the young daughter of a black woman who questioned her mother about the meaning of the word.
Considering this to be a racist slur, the woman complained to the furniture shop which sold her the sofa. They in turn blamed their supplier, who found their translation software to be at fault.
The Kingsoft Corporation, a Chinese software company, found that the problem lay with the definition given by an old Chinese-English dictionary - so that when the Chinese characters for 'dark brown' are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive description appears.
The company has apologised for its error but the Moore family is reportedly seeking compensation and was filing a report with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Plaque problems
In another report from Canada, error-laden French language plaques at the renovated Vimy Ridge war memorial were removed only days before the 90th commemoration of the battle.
These errors stem from poor translations of their English counterparts.
The memorial honours the some 10,000 Canadians who were injured and killed capturing Vimy Ridge during the First World War.
The panels displayed in the visitors' centre at the memorial were found to contain grammatical errors, a number of which were improperly conjugated verbs.
According to Radio-Canada, the job of translating the plaques fell to volunteers.
The Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson called the errors "unacceptable" and said the government's "commitment to official languages is unwavering."
Royal pardon
Urban myth time…
A photo was supposedly taken of Queen Elizabeth II in a Danish lift in which the normally illuminated 'I fart' (indication that the lift is in motion) sign was taped over for fear of offending royal sensibilities.
Perhaps royalty should have their own designated lifts? God appears to have one… In Denmark you'll often see signs saying 'Godselevator' (meaning good or cargo) goods or cargo and of course when you press the button when calling God's elevator, the little service lamp says 'I fart'.