Heil $
This is sort of random but I had to share.
I went to the Dollar Tree last night to get some rubber gloves and oven cleaner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this phenomena, there are a million stores in LA that sell everything on their shelves for a dollar, or in the case of the 99 Cents store franchise, 99 cents. I love these stores for disposable things like kitchen sponges, gift bags and the occasional roll of duct tape. But I digress.
So, I'm at the checkout with far more than the 2 items I had intended to buy and I notice the checker girl's nametag reads "Nazi." Hmm. Interesting. Is she professing some sort of alliance to the party? Is she a fan of Hitler? What's up? Of course, I am not that stupid. I realize that she is of foreign birth - from where I am not certain. She has a definite accent that I would peg as, well, foreign. Maybe Armenian, maybe Indian, maybe anything but European or Spanish. So, I am certain that her actual name is totally respectable. But for whatever reason, when spelled using English phonetics it comes out as Nazi.
Now here is where I start to wonder why, when they first spelled out her name, someone didn't just say, "hmm, that's probably a bad idea. Let's spell it Natsi, or Notsi, or, Nahzi." Seems like a no brainer to me.
Just a thought.
I went to the Dollar Tree last night to get some rubber gloves and oven cleaner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this phenomena, there are a million stores in LA that sell everything on their shelves for a dollar, or in the case of the 99 Cents store franchise, 99 cents. I love these stores for disposable things like kitchen sponges, gift bags and the occasional roll of duct tape. But I digress.
So, I'm at the checkout with far more than the 2 items I had intended to buy and I notice the checker girl's nametag reads "Nazi." Hmm. Interesting. Is she professing some sort of alliance to the party? Is she a fan of Hitler? What's up? Of course, I am not that stupid. I realize that she is of foreign birth - from where I am not certain. She has a definite accent that I would peg as, well, foreign. Maybe Armenian, maybe Indian, maybe anything but European or Spanish. So, I am certain that her actual name is totally respectable. But for whatever reason, when spelled using English phonetics it comes out as Nazi.
Now here is where I start to wonder why, when they first spelled out her name, someone didn't just say, "hmm, that's probably a bad idea. Let's spell it Natsi, or Notsi, or, Nahzi." Seems like a no brainer to me.
Just a thought.
posted by Kelvis at 9:38 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Kelvis
Discovered your blog through "pudgey pidgeon enterprises"
Had to comment on Heil $. How old was the checkout person? I ask because
it may be more than a translation issue and a sad uneducated mistake.
A few years back at a party I met a person that I say is just a "kid" but actually was 22 or 23.
Someone at the gathering made a joke
refering to hitler. The "kid" said..."who's hitler"?
"adolf hitler" I said.
A blank stare from the "kid"
"ya know the natzi party, WW2, tried to take over the world and kill all Jews?"
The kid shrugged his shoulders and said..."that guy in IRAQ?"
"No" I said sarcastically... "that guy from the GI Joe cartoons,Cobra Commander"
No Joke-the "kid" said..."Oh that guy."
Wow. It amazes me what people do and don't know. Your comment reminded me of a funny segment on This American Life.
"Kristy Kruger realized in college just how bad her high school education had been. She was always having to pretend she knew what the people around here were talking about when she didn't know. And so she devised a troll-based system for getting through those moments without people thinking she was dumb." I highly reccomend you check it out. I was gonna link right to it from here, but can't seem to make it happen. So, if you are interested, go to www.thislife.org and check out episode 294 called "Image Makers" originally broadcast on 8/5/05.
And, to answer your question, this woman had to be late 30's to mid 50's! I am clearly not a good judge of age.
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