Well, it would be one thing if the store tried to work it out with her, but not returning calls until the media came knocking is pretty pathetic and makes me wonder about the credibility of the Chinese manufacturer story.

It's a Chinese manufacturer. Of course you're not going to get in touch with them.

Those guys act like they speak a whole different language or something.

It could be a direct translation of the (I would think similarly offensive, if anybody paid attention) French "Tete de negre", meaning a deep polished brown. That's apparently still in somewhat common use.

Googling the term in English and French shows it up here and there. And will also teach you about a famous Australian rugby player...

Having lived in China, I can tell you there are a lot of racist signs, labels, personal comments etc. It just isn't much of an issue there. Actually it's kind of like the ageist remarks that are made on web sites and blogs in North America. It's wrong, but no one seems to give it much thought-yet.
I posted about this on my blog and as much as I love the Consumerist, it did make an ageist comment recently.
http://www.thesavvyboomer.com/the_savvy_boomer/2007/04/2_m...

Yes, let's everybody forget about racism for a minute and turn our attention to the terrible scourge of mildly-age-insensitive language, and the long-oppressed and ignored Baby Boom generation. They've suffered in silence far too long.

@Chris: This has nothing to do with the boomer generation-this is about ageist remarks, which like racist remarks are unacceptable and should not be tolerated in North American society. Perhaps you missed that class.

@thesavvyboomer:
What the hell is "ageist" about the phrase "clueless parent"? BTW, I will be 50 this year and have 2 step-children. And yes, sometimes I am clueless. As are a lot of people of all age groups.

According to the article, they purchased the furniture "last week," and if they've got it already, it seems they bought stock merchandise, and not special order, so it seems unlikely that this was the result of malice. More likely, that's just what the Chinese manufacturer calls that color. In many foreign countries the word doesn't have the baggage that it has in the U.S. (Or Canada, for that matter.)

I was listening to a show on NPR the other day, and the guest had written a book about "The N-Word," and he talked about an African-American who was visiting a country in Africa, and saw a shop that was named after that word. Big letters, right on the front of the building. When the shop owner heard the visitor's American accent, he was so thrilled to actually have a real "n-word" in his store. For him, the word just didn't have the weight that it does for Americans.

Also, @Chris: I laughed. I'm sure there's some way that referring to people as "clueless parents" is offensive, but I'm unable to wrap my feeble, youthful brain around how.

K

Yeah, calling someone an "old fogey" definitely equates to dropping the N-bomb. Riiiight.

I don't see the big deal! It's not like they called her that. It is a poor translation of a word by the Chinese. There's a million unfortunate translation stories. Someone should contact them the company and tell them to change it, but I don't think this is a situation where someone named the couch out of racism.

@KevinQ: I'm pretty sure "clueless" is pretty straightforward as an insult. I'm just not sure how the savvydouchebag is inferring age from cluelessness.

When I was a kid - I was born in the early sixties, - I think every female relative had a roll of cotton in their sewing boxes bearing the name "nigger brown", it was a color catalogued by most of the cotton and fabric manufacturers, This was in the UK.
I suspect that many Chinese companies in their attempts to appeal to western customers are referring to western catalogues and descriptions -some apparently out of date and now considered offensive.
I don't think the manufacturer was trying to offend anyone, it is just unfortunate that in their attempts to conform to western standards that they have reflected our own attitudes of what was "acceptable" in the not too distant past.

It's interesting to read the reactions of people when it comes to racial slurs. I often hear African Americans using the term nigger colloquially. This usage colloquially, of course, sets a double standard. They are essentially trying to hi-jack the meaning/usage of a term with a derogatory meaning. While laudable in concept, it falls on its face in practice.

If people dislike the use of such terms, then a society must collectively stop using the term altogether and essentially remove it from modern vocabulary. Until the time comes when the gang-banger, urban hip-hop types stop calling one another by that term as if it is acceptable, the word will continued to be use.

As far as getting other countries, especially China, to stop using such terms, good luck.

As wrong as it is, that's the problem when you are translating from one language to another. I am sure the Chinese manufacturer was using the "N" word in a more appropriate way, as noted above by Skylar and Rutter.

Here's an example of "Engrish": http://www.engrish.com/

So, nobody is going to go after Vanaik Furniture and Mattress? C'mon people, I want phone call and email transcripts to make these bigot saps look like the bigot saps they are. They're probably old too--I couldn't help myself, I mean seriously!

I hate saying this, but in not western countires i.e. outside of America, canada and most of europe, the "N word" does not carry the same level of offensiveness and the people do not have the same sensitivity about it. In china, they could not care less if that word bothers someone unless they believed using it is somehow economically harmfull.

It would be nice to see more racial or any kind of sensitivity across the globe, but at this time and point, alot of people have no problem using that word as a description or using sterotypes or other things that we might find offensive to describe or sell things and most of them just laugh at any critizism of such practises.

@jendomme:

There's on the ground difference between "nigger" and "nigga", which is the term used by most black people. Nigger still has derogatory connotations whereas nigga is the attempt to reclaim the word.

And I heartily disagree that the word needs to stop being used. Like a lot of things, it has to do with context. If it's a rap song nigga has a much different meaning than if it's at a KKK rally. Same way homosexuals can use the word fag without causing offense, but if it's hurled as an epithet it's unacceptable.

The store's explanation sounds plausible.

Yet, my bullsh-t radar is detecting a possible trend on the horizon: if your company does something stupid, just blame it on a Chinese supplier.

I seriously doubt that the N-word is in common use in China. Seeing as how it's an English word and all.

It seems far more likely that they're just translating using a colloquial dictionary, and just don't realize it's offensive.

I don't know how accurate this is, but it's a good story and it's relevant, so I'm repeating it: Apparently, the Chinese word for 'dried' is the same as the word for 'do.' So translators using colloquial dictionaries will often translate the wrong definition of the 'do/dried' word, and in a colloquial dictionary, 'fuck' is listed as being synonymous with 'do.' So they end up with describing things as "fuck noodle" and "mushroom fuck." There's even a picture somewhere on the internets of a grocery store with an aisle of "Assorted Fuck."

Jabari Asim has a great new book out, The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't and Why, that addresses the issues jendomme and omerhi raise. He contends that the word has no place in the public realm unless used in art or journalism, but can be used privately under certain conditions. I think the word should not be used privately by white people under any circumstances, so I disagree w/ a portion of his argument. But the book is well-written and researched. You can check him out on The Colbert Report.
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/auth...

Just recalling a old Crayola color and my confusion as a kid when i held it up to my brown skin to compare.
the chinese obviously mislabled that couch.

the label shout have had "Flesh" as the color.

I agree that there can be subtle differences between the use of "nigger" vs. "nigga". Nonetheless it is the use of term with derogatory connotations. If people think it is acceptable to use terms with such double standards, then surely they cannot complain about other double standards. You don't hear Jewish people calling one another heebs. Why would one think it is acceptable to hear black people calling one another nigga. Doesn't seem to make sense.

@jendomme: Oh boy, thanks for figuring out the solution to the black community's problems! I'm sure they'll be ever so grateful.

No one said that ageist remarks were equal to racist remarks. That poster was telling us that, having lived in China, his/her experience was that words and phrases that would be considered extremely racist in the US, carry the same weight as we in the US look at ageist remarks, i.e. not likely to cause much of a stir. Sheesh, learn to read.

I personally would love to have a couch that says, "cracker white" or "honkey off-white", or something. It would be an awesome conversation piece! "Have you seen my racist couch? Here, have a seat..."

@jendomme: What?

http://www.heebmagazine.com/

@spanky: You have clearly never been to japan. Half of their advertising and TV is in broken english or contains popular english words...

As for the difference between Nigger and Nigga, thats bullshit. Taking an supposedly offensive word (one thats offensive to you no less), and adding a slight different spelling is bullshit. I can just see it now, Spaks, Crackaz, Koontz, Jewas... seriously, either way, it has the same meaning, you can't hide it...

@jendomme: No.... but we do call each other kikes. All the time.

Ageist has to be the most illiterate derogatory term ever constructed. Ageist? are you serious?

Are people also skin-colorist and maybe heightists or tallists if they don't like short people?

Or how about religionist comments... those can be prejudice against people based on religion .

*SHEESH*

I would also like to know if anyone else has come across this color description. You'd think more than one customer would've noticed. That label looks like something I could type up and print from my computer.

@mantari: Would it have red accented arm and neck rests? :D

yeah, my money's on the Chinese. They still have darkie toothpaste and stuff.

Other issues aside, I don't but this whole shirking of responsibility by the store owner. Shouldn't somebody along the way have realized what color was listed for this sofa? I mean either in ordering, receiving or displaying it? That information would certainly be on an inventory or on receiving information.

I am also curious as to whether others have noticed this label. It seems suspect, however the fact that the store owner isn't even trying to deny the validity of this claim is suspect too.

I think thesavvyboomer is just here to plus his/her website.

This really isn't a big deal. No manufacturer or distributer would intentionally put such an offensive label on an item. This is almost certainly a translation error or merely a cultural idiosyncracy. If you're offended by this I dare say you are being far too sensitive.

And for the "ageist" discussion: since when does "parent" in anyway denote a person of a particular age? Parents range in age from about 10- to 120-years old.

I must admit that I am more interested in the "ageist" discussion. I thought I had read it all, but apparently not.

Here's a question: if 'racist means' you're someone who thinks less of other races, and 'ageist' means you think less of other ages, what does 'consumerist' mean?

And isn't "clueless parents" more of a familyist comment, rather than ageist?

I blame Michael Richards.

I wonder if the Chinese sofa manufacturer also has a color called "Wheat Gluten with Melamine"

I think black people are setting themselves back by saying -gger -gga. To say there's a difference between the two words is silly. They're "taking the word back?" Why wouldn't they want to leave it for dead? Anyway, I would imagine some fancy civil rights lawyer might step up for this woman, pro bono which could possibly end up in some type of settlement. Certainly so, if she were in the states.

@Scazza:
Yes, languages often borrow words from other languages. But non-native speakers don't necessarily understand the connotations of the words they're adopting.

Asian cultures can be pretty openly racist at times, but it seems more likely that it's a translation problem than it is that a company doing regular overseas business is unaware of those cultural differences.

Civil rights lawyer ? That's ridiculous. Nobody called her that or forced her to buy the sofa for that matter. What next ... suing every website you see the N word ? Now I guess I have a leg to stand on if I want to sue Walmart for selling me those "cracker white" socks. Wait, I can't do that, I'm Native American.

The lady needs to just get over it and quit looking for a handout around every corner.

If the word is SOOOOO offensive to African Americans, then why is it I'm forced, on a regular basis, to hear it blared at high volume at traffic lights, in parking lots, etc? I can't go anywhere anymore without ending up hearing some hip-hop or rap tune being played in a car close to me at some point during the day where the lyrics are something like this: "My (n-word) was down with this fine (n-word) bitch!" or "(n-word) please, we was all (n-word) in the hood" or some other variation on one of those themes.

It's getting to the point that no one gives that word any weight because it's been so over used. Kinda like the word "bitch". It used to be a HUGELY derogatory term, but it's been diluted to nothing - and in large part by the same hip-hop and rap genre that is now doing the same thing to the n-word.

Personally, I'd LOVE to have a "Honky White" or "Mick Green" anything - I'm proud of my heritage (and let's not forget that the Irish Catholics were slaves in North America for hundereds of years as well:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~fianna/history/ "by 1656 over 60,000 Irish Catholic slaves had been sent to Barbados". It was still legal to capture and sell Irish Catholics as slaves until 1829!)

Oh well....

Wish people would be more offended about african americans killing african americans. Philly's looking at another 400+ dead this year. Many because an african american was offended by another african american. Any of you obviously well educated posters have any solutions to that?

When to comes to whites using the n-word as casually as blacks, of course it's a double standard! No, you can't say it, and no, it doesn't make any sense.

Don't you guys watch South Park? You just don't get it...

@poor ????? that was totally irrelevant. this is such a horrible flame war it's hard to fathom. leave ur politics at home and stop trying to change everyone's world view. personally i found it funny that they likened a couch color to that, considering how many different colors it could be. big deal, whites have their crayon and Africans have a couch. the yellow man are getting their revenge now for the hardship we made them endure.

The thing I find remarkable is how many of the comments here generalize about this thing called the "African-American community." Isn't it terribly possible that there is a divide even among African-Americans themselves about the use of this word, perhaps some who endorse it, and some who find it patently offensive, maybe even regardless of the colour of the person says it?

Some cite the use of the n-word in rap and hip-hop as proof of universal endorsement of its use by the black community ... is this woman a rapper or hip hop artist? I mean, she's black, right?

Could a community actually consist of individuals, from hugely varying economic and social backgrounds, with different thoughts and opinions, united only by the colour of their skin?

Nah...

What's racist is that picture of the woman that keeps floating around my screen, following me no matter how far down I scroll, taunting me... what are you trying to say, consumerist?

@Bookish:
I think the word should not be used privately by white people under any circumstances

What a wonderfully racist comment. I hope what you meant to say was, "I think the word should not be used privately by ANY people under any circumstances."

Either everyone stops using the word, or everyone uses it unconditionally. Anything else is racist.

@dbeahn:

"My (n-word) was down with this fine (n-word) bitch!"

My female dog takes offense with your sexist and speciesist word choice.

@erock0: It's relevant because in my experience african americans have such a chip on their shoulder because almost anything can offend, to the point of killing to recapture one's pride. Or to blame every white person they come in contact with for their plight, so they feel justified for trying to get something for nothing.

Nigga v. Nigger "2 Completely different words!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XURRzofbMc0