I’m actually having trouble believing this isn’t some kind of hoax. It really didn’t occur to anybody that “retard” and “douche” have completely different meanings in English than they do in French?
I could see how it could happen as an unexpected collision between the promotion and Canada’s bilingual labeling rules. The two words were never meant to be read together – just one word for the Anglophones and another for the Francophones. Most of the time people would read the word for their favoured language and ignore the other. So they didn’t think about what would happen if they were read together and by happenstance they made sense together.
That’s probably true, the article mentions that the word lists were approved separately.
But I’m surprised the person who approved the French list didn’t think “is it a good idea to have ‘retard’ and ‘douche’ on this list?”. Whether they’re paired with an English word or not, Anglophones are going to see them. And when I see the word “retard” my first thought isn’t “oh, that just means ‘late’ in French, perfectly harmless”.
P.S. I have a nagging suspicion there is a grammatical error in the title of the thread…
It’s actually a verb (“to delay”), rather than an adjective (“late”). It’s the same in English, too. When dealing with internal combustion engines, we speak of retarding or advancing the spark to describe the timing of ignition relative to piston movement. Heck, that’s why it was used to describe people afflicted with Trisomy 21: they were “mentally retarded,” literally of slow mind.
“Retard” as a noun in English didn’t become offensive until people started using it as an insult.
But why was that lady drinking her sister’s coke?
Under what context was the phrase “You Retard” intended?
Well, to be fair, the dude was drinking “Vitamin Water”. Sometimes you gotta call it like you see it.
That’s hilarious! If I were in Canada, I’d be going out and buying all the bottles I could find now, hoping to get one that said “YOU RETARD” or “YOU DOUCHE.” What a brilliant marketing campaign!
…
I’d say the cap nailed it. She looks kind of retarded.
This is especially baffling in that the Francophone who approved the list was presumably from Quebec, a place which deals with English every day, where English speakers are fairly common, and where everyone needs to know at least some English. Such a person really ought to know about those words that mean different things in English and French.
I believed them until it turned out the word “douche” was paired with “bup is a” in the “douche” caps.
It’s possible to spend an entire lifetime in Quebec and never use (or need to use) a word of English.
Could this happen in reverse? What common English words are offensive in other languages? Like if it said “Vous Bundle”, but Bundle meant something offensive in French.
Yeah, good point. I guess if I was the guy proofreading the English words, an English word that has some offensive meaning in French might wind up on there, and I, knowing only highschool French, would be oblivious. For all I know, “bundle” or “hot dog” or “telephone” or “frog” are horrible insults in Trois-Rivières or Baie-Comeau.
I guess maybe it’s just a bad idea for a promotion in general. What if there were no words on the list that you would ever think would be considered offensive in isolation, but when you put them together you get something that’s going to upset someone? E.g. what if somebody in Lac-Mégantic got a cap that said “train flambée”?
Anyone offended by this is a retarded douche.
Ha ha, as an English teacher this story amuses the hell out of me. The bottler should give rewards for the most offensive bottle tops. I imagine kids would love it and adults would grow up a little and realise they personally weren’t being offended. It’s like being offended because someone in a movie or book uses a swear word. Come on, people! It’s just words written on a consumable item, not your partner’s diary!
I admit, maybe it’s my juvenile sense of humor, but I’ve literally got tears streaming down my face from the absurdity of finding a message that says “YOU RETARD” on the bottle cap of Vitaminwater. And seeing a video of it just nailed it for me.
Anyhow, it’s a weird campaign. I was trying to figure out why there was supposed to be one word in English and one word in French that don’t correspond to each other, but apparently, it’s like a – I don’t know – one of those magnetic poetry kind of things where you have random words and make phrases out of them? At least that’s what the article says. I don’t get why anybody would bother to do that (unless there’s some kind of contest involved), or why Coca-Cola just wouldn’t use the same words in English and French instead of scrambling both vocabulary sets, but I’m not a marketing genius.
I believe it is only used that way as part of the idiom “en retard” which means “late”. (I think “retarder” is a verb, but unless I am mistaken, no correct conjugation of that verb is just “retard”. Closest would be “il retarde”. Can anyone confirm?)
“En Retard” is such a common idiom, that I doubt anyone who primarily spoke French would think of the English meaning at all. I know I giggled like an immature schoolboy when I learned it (because I was an immature schoolboy), but it’s only funny so many times before you stop noticing it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Squishy
For all I know, “bundle” or “hot dog” or “telephone” or “frog” are horrible insults in Trois-Rivières or Baie-Comeau.
Question for Canadopers. How would “Vous Frog” go over in Quebec?
People really need to get a life. The dad is having trouble dealing with it? Maybe spending a few weeks volunteering on a children’s cancer ward will give him some perspective.