French insults in American products

Written by lklawless
Published April 25, 2004

Seattle-based bag company Tom Bihn does a lot of business with Canada, and thus offers bilingual French-English labels for its products. But French speakers get more than just washing instructions - now they can get presidential insults as well. The labels sewn into hundreds of bags and backpacks include the following message:

Nous sommes desolés que notre president soit un idiot. Nous n'avons pas voté pour lui.
(We're sorry our president is an idiot. We didn't vote for him.)

Company sales have more than doubled since the insult was discovered, although the eponymous president of Tom Bihn claims that it was an inside joke aimed at him, rather than the president of the United States.

The company has created a T-shirt with the insulting label, the profits of which will be donated to the Seattle Vet Center.

Full story: News and events at Tom Bihn

(I know this is already a week old, but I didn't see a post here at Blogcritics.)

Laura K. Lawless
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French insults in American products
Published: April 25, 2004
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Section: Politics
Filed Under: Culture: Humor and Satire
Writer: lklawless
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Comments

#1 — April 25, 2004 @ 13:01PM — Jim Carruthers [URL]

This reminds me of the gag in "Penn and Teller Get Killed" where Penn is taught how to say "Have a Nice Day" in Spanish: "chinga te putra madre".

#2 — April 25, 2004 @ 15:43PM — Stately Wayne Manor

Minor correction on your Espanol,senor.
It's "puta" not "putra". Carry On.

#3 — April 25, 2004 @ 16:00PM — Jim Carruthers [URL]

Oh, that esplains the strange looks I got greeting people in Mexico City.

#4 — April 25, 2004 @ 17:09PM — Jim [URL]

How very droll. How about a label like "I eat at McDonald's specifically to piss you off"?

#5 — April 26, 2004 @ 15:35PM — Douglas Mays [URL]

Yeah, caught this report on the local news. Man, I've got to run downtown and buy one right away before the supply runs out.

The store owners were giving it a 'hhhmmmm...' about taking them off the shelf. But by now, I would think that they should have more made up. I'm sure sales were quite brisk once the word got out. Especially in this town.

peaceloveguidance

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