The lady who bought the couch is considering suing.

You're kidding right?

If she still sues, SHE is the one with the problem. It was a mistake on the account of CHINESE software! God, people need to chill. She probably said herself to her black friend, "N* you won't be-LIEVE what I found on my couch label...." and her friend said "Girl, you should sue."

Ugh, America is going to crap. Everything is now sue, sue, sue. Someone looked at you wrong? Sued them. Someone spoke to you? Sue them. Ugh.

@mopar_man: Nope.

I sued Taco Bell, because I ate a million challupas, and I got FAT..

I sued Starbucks, because I spilled a frappachino in my lap and brrr it was cold...

of course she is going to sue. she isn't really offended she just sees that as her paycheck, as would most americans. they are just waiting for that day that thier's comes in

Actually, they're Canadian. I guess we've exported the instinct to sue for any slight, intentional or otherwise. Just think of the outrage if it was labeled "nappy-headed brown"!

@indianaguy: @y2julio: Canada. This is taking place in Canada.

And in the meantime we all pay higher prices to support that system.

My eyes rolled so hard at the mention of her potential lawsuit they fell out of my head.

You'll be hearing from my lawyers, Consumerist!

And she'll probably win too. Why? See here.

@Ben Popken: Canada is part of America :p Just not officially LOL but yeah, I wouldn't have found it offensive if it had said spic-brown. It's just a word, it only has power if you submit to it.

So,

@Ben Popken: Yes, it's taking place in Canada. But the WOMAN is an American, born and raised in New York. Hence the "Oh, I is ENTITLED to this paycheck cause my ancestors MIGHT have been slaves, maybe - I dunno."

Yea! Time to file my paperwork for erika v. Nabisco!

Wouldn't this fall under freedom of speech anyways?

The lady who bought the couch is considering suing.

Of course...

Gotta love America nowadays with all these lawsuits. Some fool tries that on me, and I am going to give them something worth suing for!

Contrary to y2julio, the word "nigger" is offensive whether you submit to it or not. But, offensive or not, it's still just a word. She has nothing to sue about. I hope she loses and is forced to pay the legal fees of the furniture company.

And thank you consumerist for actually using the word, rather than the idiotic replacement "n-word."

Canada = Mini USA :oP

It was an acutal dye color once upon a time from Reeves & Sons in London. That's what is in my user icon.

Institutional racism in a bottle, a very old bottle.

Couch, please!

@cncpun

freedom of speech does not cover you from civil suit

Complete and total bs if she sues. I can understand the mild shock at the beginning, but the situation was explained (with a reasonable explanation) and that should be that. No harm no foul.

The next time I'm offered a cracker, I think I'm going to sue.

Because that is a racist term against people who are white! How dare anyone use that word, ever! It's mean and cruel and even if they don't mean it as a slight against me, how dare they say it.

(Ahem. Now back to your usual sanity.)

@Mr. Gunn: giggle..snort

I agree with the posts above about suing just because you can. She wasn't wronged by the word. Sure, it sucks and in today's society, probably should be used.....oh wait....anyone listen to rap music at all?

Does this mean that Caucasian people should find Cracker Barrel offensive?

To claim damages there must be a financial outlay on the part of the victim or a hinderance or inability to earn income. A mere verbal slight due to a poorly designed translation program is not enough. the most damages she will be able to claim would be getting her money refunded for the couch, which she must return to the store.

that's what you get for buying a couch the same color as your skin.

Did anyone really expect any other explanation for the "mistake?" I realize on this site it might be hard to give any commercial operation the benefit of the doubt, but it seemed pretty clear from the start that this was probably going to be the explanation in the end.

I hope she does sue, and I hope the furniture company files a counter-suit for her to pay the penalty of their expenses in going to trial. Unfortunately that seems the only possible way to discourage some of these insane lawsuits.

Her right to find the word offensive doesn't magically disappear just because some overdressed wannabe criminals with ugly cars think it's okay to toss around in their rhymes. If we're going to be judging standards of behavior and decency by what celebrities find acceptable, we're in some big damn trouble as a society.

On the other hand, her right to find the word offensive stops at just about the time when she could have returned the damn couch.

The N-word is actually in common use in China, and isn't considered offensive there. I tried to disabuse some of my Chinese friends of this notion, but they thought I was nuts.

"Michael Jordan is a nigger! Michael Jackson - nigger! We love the nigger!"

I was cringing for DAYS over that, but they didn't get it.

Suing over nothing beats working right?

Man, the amount of stereotyping, prejudice, and blatant racism I'm seeing in these comments is appalling. Shame on you.

The couch store owner, who came to Canada in 1972 from India, says he's never heard the word before.

So if this guy is telling the truth, or at least seems genuinely apologetic about the mistake, then he updates his software and we call it a day. If he's making excuses and is generally an unapologetic ass, then she sues him (and hopefully wins).

If he's apologetic and sincere, and she sues him, it's on her karma. How is your comment (preaching to the choir, people!) going to change her mind?

Who's going to sue her for removing a Do Not Remove tag????

@dbeahn:

This'll be a hit-and-run, nobody wants another flame war (at least I don't). But you didn't think you were rid of me forever, did you?

Anyway, care to explain this?

"Hence the 'Oh, I is ENTITLED to this paycheck cause my ancestors MIGHT have been slaves, maybe - I dunno.'"

Do all black people speak ebonics in your world? Is this another "scientific" observation from your expeditions to the local Denny's? Did you read the article? What exactly are you basing your crude racial stereotyping on?

I'll await your response. It may take a while. since I figure you'll be busy getting drunk on Jameson's and beating your wife. (What's the problem? It's a scientific observation.)

I remember about a dozen years ago sitting in High School Spanish I class. We were going through the colors when "negro" came up. There was OUTCRY from the members of the class who could trace their liniage to Africa.
I rolled my eyes, and exchanged a knowing glance with the teacher who did not think she could.

In other news, once I was called a cracker in the most stereotypical situation known to man. A buddy of mine and I decided to put back a few beers and talk about girl problems. It was a nice night so we decided the best place for this to be done was sitting on the tool box of my beat up ford ranger in the parking lot of my apartment. My roommate came home from work and decided to join us, intending to catch up quickly via hard liquor. He also insists on turning on some country music. Apparently he caught up too quickly because in short order he was barfing over the side of the bed of the truck. At about this time a black couple drives by in a dark Lexus sedan with very tinted windows. She yells out "Hey, CRACKAS go back inside". Our indignation lasted all of the split second it took for us to take stock of our circumstances. Someone then said, "You know, she's right". A good laugh was had and a few more beers.

Ok this happens when you enter dark-brown into an older Chinese translation program?? In what year was this the translation to dark-brown? I'm not saying this lady deserves money but I do think at sometime, somewhere, someone was chuckling to themselves as they entered this into some software.

The night is cool, The Consumerist is hot, and you want to do more than blog: http://consumerist.proboards88

When i first read this article i started looking at the tags on items around the house. It turns out that what i though was a plain ol' brown button-up shirt is actually "those people wont shut up in the movie theatre brown", which is WILDLY inappropriate.

Better start calling those lawyers now, Gap. I'm going to sue the poorly fitted over priced khakis off of you!

Needless to say, i want one of those couches.

My kitchen floor tiles are Honky White, but I can't blame them. It's the way they were raised. :(

Ha Ha.. software still can't replace human translators. I know a bit of chinese, and I know that the Google language tools are way off. I'm learning Japanese, and the translations going from Japanese to English, let's just say it makes 'Engrish' look like 1000 times better.

@tcabeen:

It's not the shop owners software, try reading the article again.

Additionally, it's not terribly hard to believe an immigrant who, most likely, spends all of his time working or at home with his family had not come in contact with that word.

The supplier's explanation is total bullshit. I'm a Chinese and I cannot think of any word that represents "dark" in Chinese would translate into Nigger. As stupid as Kingsoft is, I don't think it's the cause.

@thisaintsweettea: You are right @tcabeen should read the article again.

Having migrated and stayed in a foreign country for 12 years and have not heard of that word? Unbelievable!! Heck, he owns a store and most likely deal with lots of people (different races) everyday.

Sorry, I'm coming late to the discussion. Can somebody point out to me in the Constitution, (or Canada's version thereof) where it grants the right NOT to be offended? I'm sure it's there, it's gotta be. I just can't find it.

So, dbeahn, is it because she's from New York you assume she would say "I is entitled," rather than I am"? It's amazing how people state as fact about what someone's motive is when, really, they have no idea!

By the way, speculate all you want about what she "probably said" to her friend, phelander, but we (black women) don't all refer to each other as "N*".

@sncreducer: Actually, I was making a commentary that it takes a certain lack of education to decide that one is entitled to something because of something one was never subjected to.

It is interesting that you saw a racial color in what was nothing more than a sentence written without regard to grammar.

@bbbici: So what you're saying is, I shouldn't buy any white furniture because it might bear a slight resemblance to my skin color? Got it.

I wonder how comfortable the couch is.

What Would Rutgers Do?