Baroness Nicholson strikes again

And as a designer - no, you read the words/look at the design and make sure there it ‘works’ from all angles. And so many people would have seen this before it went to the manufacturer - no one said anything?

This isn't all that uncommon though. Not that it happens all the time, but part of the reason you have other people proof things is that it can be difficult to see what something looks like when you already know what is there. Even other people aren't always going to pick it up - there was a kids shirt for sale a few years ago at a local big shop where the shirt looked like it had nipples. Embarrassing, but unintended, you did wonder how they could have missed it, but clearly they did.

f course they pulled the shirts, as they have the mugs, which is fine. But it's not really a feminist issue, it's a proofing issue, and I am really surprised that someone like BN was involved.

I’ve heard people argue about this on the radio. It’s all very ‘people are looking to be offended’. I saw the mug on the Internet (didn’t read the comments) and I read it as ‘a good idea - hit her’ and was a bit ‘whaaaaatttt?’

Not a Dahl fan so I’m not sure if someone who had read the books would automatically ‘get it’.

And as a designer - no, you read the words/look at the design and make sure there it ‘works’ from all angles. And so many people would have seen this before it went to the manufacturer - no one said anything?

I read it as two statements as well.

What an odd thing to have got all the way through the design process and onto the shelves. Bizarre.

I too read it as two statements and was taken a back. I agree it was unlikely to have been intended (and very unlikely you’d read it that way if you had bought the mug knowing the book and context) but also think it best that it was pulled.

I have only just seen this and I couldn't work out what it was meant to mean other than: A brilliant idea. Hit her.

Same!

You could certainly say that it was poor design, but the person who designed it probably read it grammatically as they already knew what it said - and while some here may have read it otherwise, plenty of people haven't. There are all kinds of inspirational quotes used on mugs, t-shirts, and other places, with similar fonts and layout. They just don't happen to be meaningful if you were to change the punctation around.

It's about the same level as someone who used a word not realising it had an alternate meaning that was quite different.

It's not as bad as this.

Same here. And I think a lot of people who aren't familiar with Matilda would read it the same way.

And....?

What's the poor outcome of that? You read it wrong, and someone says, no, that's a quote from the beloved children's novel Matilda.

We complain about certain activists being over-sensitive and lacking resilience, but is this really different? We are grown ups, and it's an inspirational quote mug. It's not going to crate a rash of domestic violence incidents. Not many people will even read it.

I also think it's a weird choice for someone to get their knickers in a twist about. My neighbour has a Covid sign in her window that is meant to say "We are all in this together" but actually appears to say, because of the window construction "We are all in this to get her." It's really not an anti-woman statement, and even if it can read like that I think cheeseismydownfall is correct, it tends to dilute more serious issues.

I have only just seen this and I couldn't work out what it was meant to mean other than: A brilliant idea. Hit her.

I only realised it was meant to read as one sentence on reading this thread.

Clearly unfortunate rather than malicious but I honestly read it as it's a good idea to hit women and couldn't understand the purpose of such a mug.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the quote itself, but the font makes it look like it’s saying something completely different.
I think it’s just an inadvertent mistake, and it’s correct that it’s pulled.
I don’t think it was malicious

I agree, odd choice of quote, why pick that one?

Other than the capitalisation and the punctuation, you mean?

IMO the font and layout are stronger than punctuation and capitalisation. Three fonts are used

A
brilliant idea
HIT HER

The choice of typography means that message could be read as:

"A brilliant idea - hit her"

as opposed to (what I assume is the original quote):

"A brilliant idea hit her"

It is a bit clumsy, but personally this ranks pretty low on my list of things to be enraged about. And I am concerned that it could undermine the other very important issues that the Baroness is tackling in the eyes of people who like to cry "political correctness gone mad".

Not sure she made the right call on this one.

The font and layout on the mug reads as "A brilliant idea. Hit her."

Other than the capitalisation and the punctuation, you mean?

The font and layout on the mug reads as "A brilliant idea. Hit her."

I have this mug. It's a nice cup, but they should have done the font a bit better i.e. it's one quote so don't make it look like two statements!

Ok, I have read the Twitter bit and I don't get it, mainly because I still can't read the small text I guess. It's a quote from Matilda, which seems entirely uncontroversial?

I agree about the mug but I suspect Ronald Dahl wrote it that way on purpose (as in she might have been physically hit by an idea in the form of a letter, book etc). It would have been better to chose another quote
.

I think it took all of us by suprise. Lots of actions by stealth were happening before we suddenly woke (not as in wokeiness) up. Many on here though have been aware for years but their voices were not being heard. I have a feeling JKR put a spotlight on the whole mess.

I have days when I feel really low about this and then I get something positive and am ok for a while. I think we have to accept that it's a bit of a roller coaster and we will have the gitters until we get something really positive in Law