Whoops: The Slogan For Apple’s New iPhone 7 Translates To Something Raunchy In Hong Kong

Apple revealed the specs of the new iPhone 7 on Wednesday, and the Internet was quick to kvetch about the lack of a headphone jack and other changes. Apple may expect you to pay $160 for wireless earbuds you’ll lose instantly, but at least we’re getting good parodies out of it, and now Apple themselves are directly providing some of the humor via a bit of a language mishap.

When Apple launched their iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong this week, they did so with three different translations of “This is 7.” The three slogans translate as “7 is here”, “Exactly is 7”, and “This, is exactly iPhone 7.” But what Apple didn’t understand is that Hong Kongers speak Cantonese, not Mandarin, so the version of seven they used is also Cantonese slang for penis.

“This is penis.”

The new iPhone 7. It’s penis, you guys. It’s exactly penis. Think different. Penis.

Yes, I’m 12 years old and this is hilarious.

Quartz provides some context:

In Cantonese, “seven,” or 柒, is pronounced chat, and is also slang for “penis.” The word isn’t particularly offensive. Instead, it is often used to describe a hilarious person or thing, or mock someone gently. Let’s say a friend slipped in public, or got a goofy haircut: you can say to him in Cantonese “You are so seven,” without hurting his feelings too much.

This isn’t even the first time a company has made this mistake. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 sounds like “Galaxy stick of penis” in Cantonese. But Hong Konger’s are having fun with the newest Western penis gaffe. One Facebook user joked, “Without a 3.5mm earbud jack, this is exactly penis.”

And Twitter users are still making jokes about the lack of a headphone jack as well.

https://twitter.com/aaronwiener/status/773597301919084544

That is so seven.

(Via Quartz)