Oops ...
An Etsy shop owner decided to sell face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic and wanted to make them special. Tees Go Bling is a Wyoming-based vendor and has been making tons of blinged-out face masks with cute logos, including Disney themes, fun sayings, and mermaids. Several masks with mantras of encouragement for cities around the country are part of the offerings, as well.
Sue, the Tees Go Bling shop owner, wanted to honor the Jewish community in New York—one of the hardest-hit areas in the country. Sue decided to make an "NYC Strong" mask and spell the word strong in Yiddish. The masks looked great, but there was just one small problem that came to light after they hit the site for sale. It seems that due to some differences in language, Sue thought she had spelled out "strong" in Yiddish, instead she had spelled out the word "crotch."
The hilarious mistake occurred because Sue, who is not Jewish, did not realize that Yiddish words are written right to left and read left to right. So, while she had used the correct letters for the word, the way it reads is actually crotch, not strong. She was alerted to the error when potential buyers contacted the shop and pointed out the snafu.
Upon realizing the error, the offending products were removed from the site, however, after several customers asked to buy them, the vendor put them back up. Sue was taken by surprise that people wanted the masks, but the real surprise came when she ran out of stock of the sparkly "NYC Crotch" masks. She has had to extend delivery time to meet the demand and is offering the mask in four colors with 17 different glitter options. The masks cost $15 plus shipping.
Sue says she will not mess around with a language she does not know again, but that this is a perfect example of making the best of an awkward situation! She is also appreciative of the attention and business the flub has brought in for her small business.
The mask has gotten rave reviews, and purchasers seem to really appreciate the humor of the backstory and that the intent that started the whole thing was kindness.
This mask says: 'NYC Crotch' when it was meant to say 'NYC Strong.'
— Mindy Greenstein PhD (@MindyGreenstein) May 27, 2020
I say, let's not tell Etsy about the right-to-left thing. It's funny. We need funny. It's almost even more Yiddish that way. pic.twitter.com/VunY2PNGaS
Speaking of creative face masks, have you seen the ones with actual human faces printed on them? Creepy and genius at the same time!
Would you want to wear a mask like the Yiddish "NYC crotch" mask? Sound off in the comments.
