# Now also available in Honky White **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990 "2007-04-13T17:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/21 "2007-04-13T21:38:12Z")
😛 [QUOTE=mobo85] I’m not sure if the nigger-brown couch really goes with the family’s Injun-red curtains and chink-yellow wallpaper. [/QUOTE] why is this posting like this? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/22 "2007-04-13T22:00:04Z")
_jaw clunks on floor, eyes out by a mile_ No _way_. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/23 "2007-04-13T23:07:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] ( **Larry Mudd** suggested that the author was likely Raymond Chandler) [/QUOTE] :eek: Did you do a search for the thread, or do you have some kind of freaky memory? Wasn’t that a couple of years ago? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/24 "2007-04-14T00:02:41Z")
I think she is giving the word too much power–unless the Voldemort couch comes in a more complementary color for her living space! Keeping it and filing a complaint would be what I would do, but I am not that woman, so the point is moot… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/25 "2007-04-14T00:24:24Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] It _is_ a nice couch, though. But I don’t think I could stand it in Nigger Brown. Honky White’s not my favorite color either. Maybe something with a bit more cream or yellow tone? Say, like that of a Ritz? [/QUOTE] What would they call it then-Chink Yellow? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/26 "2007-04-14T00:29:25Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I think that was just her feelings about the word, not what she told her daughter. [/QUOTE] Ah, nm then. Misunderstood. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/27 "2007-04-14T00:45:11Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] What would they call it then-Chink Yellow? :eek: [/QUOTE] I was going for Cracker. I think Chink Yellow might be the color of their walls, though. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/28 "2007-04-14T00:52:48Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] It _is_ a nice couch, though. But I don’t think I could stand it in Nigger Brown. Honky White’s not my favorite color either. Maybe something with a bit more cream or yellow tone? Say, like that of a Ritz? [/QUOTE] Cracker Yellow? Damn. The thread is hours old, and somebody scoops me on the punchline while I’m posting. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/29 "2007-04-14T01:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Ok, I agree that the label needs to be changed, but seriously–to get rid of the couch? :dubious: Couchs are expensive–this one looks like leather. It look really good, too. [/QUOTE] My guess is she wouldn’t just get rid of it but would expect the furniture retailer or distributor to compensate her for it. It may not be the case with Ms. Moore, but some people might even feel they should be compensated for their mental anguish. Some would want money above and beyond the price of the couch. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/30 "2007-04-14T01:07:11Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I was going for Cracker. I think Chink Yellow might be the color of their walls, though. 😉 [/QUOTE] Yeah, but then they could claim that it’s named after actual crackers (Ritz, Saltines, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/31 "2007-04-14T01:34:49Z")
Well, the couch is named after actual ni… never mind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/32 "2007-04-14T02:41:32Z")
Hmmm, why you dragging White folk into this? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/33 "2007-04-14T13:07:22Z")
'Cause we use [Darkie brand toothpaste](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie) whenever we’re in Hong Kong. I’m actually smiling that a black kid can be seven already without ever having come across the N-word. Even if it’s Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/34 "2007-04-14T14:58:31Z")
[Quote=Sternvogel] (Larry Mudd suggested that the author was likely Raymond Chandler) [/Quote] [QUOTE=Larry Mudd] :eek: Did you do a search for the thread, or do you have some kind of freaky memory? Wasn’t that a couple of years ago? [/QUOTE] I actually remembered it (I do have a “freaky memory” for some things), and searched for the thread before I posted, only to get about 20 “hits” with the keywords I used. However, when I read your post quoted above, I remembered you had also mentioned cocaine on that “couple of years ago” thread, which was active in [August 2005.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331204&highlight=Raymond+Chandler+cocaine) My message is Post #14, and your response is #17. Of course, those who’ve been following this discussion will likely find those two-plus pages interesting reading _in toto_. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/35 "2007-04-14T23:07:56Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] 'Cause we use [Darkie brand toothpaste](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie) whenever we’re in Hong Kong. [/QUOTE] I can’t help but think of the fake ad for that product which appears in the mockumentary _The Confederate States of America_: “Darkie: for a shine that’s jigaboo bright!” (Ever since the whole controversy, I’ve mentally made that the slogan for [Imus Greening the Cleaning](http://www.dienviro.com/index1.aspx?BD=17671) as a joke, even though the “Imus” in question is Don’s wife and it was McGuirk who made the Spike Lee reference.) ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/36 "2007-04-15T03:30:02Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] It _is_ a nice couch, though. But I don’t think I could stand it in Nigger Brown. Honky White’s not my favorite color either. Maybe something with a bit more cream or yellow tone? Say, like that of a Ritz? [/QUOTE] What about High Yella? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/37 "2007-04-20T01:56:10Z")
[Offensive couch label traced to China](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070419/ap_on_re_ca/canada_couch_racial_slur_1) > [@](#): > > Kingsoft Corp., a Chinese software company, acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error. > > “I know this is a very bad word,” Huang Luoyi, a product manager for the Beijing-based company’s translation software, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. > > He explained that when the Chinese characters for “dark brown” are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive N-word description comes up. > > “We got the definition from a Chinese-English dictionary. We’ve been using the dictionary for 10 years. Maybe the dictionary was updated, but we probably didn’t follow suit,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/38 "2007-04-20T03:19:26Z")
I was a bit surprised to discover that the taco seasoning my company uses is labeled “Gringo’s Choice”. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/39 "2007-04-20T04:06:24Z")
I guess I don’t understand how Engrish works. “Dark brown” equals the N-word? And he said the software program was at least ten years old, but how old was the dictionary? I would think it should have been updated before the software was created. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990/40 "2007-04-20T04:25:32Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] I guess I don’t understand how Engrish works. “Dark brown” equals the N-word? And he said the software program was at least ten years old, but how old was the dictionary? I would think it should have been updated before the software was created. [/QUOTE] I collect dictionaries (dork) and have a few chinese-english dictionaries. One of my favourites is from the tail-end of the Cultural Revolution, and it has many colourful English words and phrases in it that seem out of place in a dictionary. (“Fuck you, Charlie!” springs to mind. Yes, the whole phrase, as an _entry_, and not a usage example.) Most Chinese-English electronic dictionaries act as a sort of thesaurus, offering several examples. I can remember one woman relating an anecdote to me about looking under a monk’s robe when she was a toddler, and wrapping up by declaring: “I am a strange baby!” I thought that was pretty cool, but I later learned that she had used a translation tool to find the English for the Chinese word for “curious.” It automatically suggested alternatives for “curious” – “inquisitive,” and “strange.” She picked the one that was easiest to pronounce. 😃 I’m sure that the software just used a dictionary that used some dodgy sources. (Like Raymond Chandler.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-also-available-in-honky-white/399990.md?page=3)