Could there be a bigger and more disgusting waste of Government resources: QLD Premier Anna Bligh has sicked her dogs, the State’s Attorney-General and Police service, onto Wicked rental vans for what’s been described as a ‘highly offensive’ slogan.
According to the Cairns Post, a Cairn’s resident complained about one of the companies vans with ‘Lick My . . . . ‘ painted on it in Japanese characters. (UPDATE 24/08/08: It translates to ‘Lick My Cunt‘)
I don’t know what the last word is because the Cairns Post self-censored, but it’s probably safe to say it says cock or balls (there’s also the chance there is no third mystery word and the complainant considered his own thoughts worthy of censorship) . Those of you who can read Japanese, please feel free to translate:
'Lick My Cunt' is what's written in Japanese on the side of this van, according to readers of StotC. Thanks to those who translated!
“I have asked police and the Attorney-General to investigate whether it breaches Queensland law and if not I’m happy to look at ways to rid our streets of this rubbish,” Ms Bligh told The Weekend Post.
“The owners of the vans are grubby and acting irresponsibly.”
The outraged resident, Mark, sent the letter to the paper after his Japanese wife translated it for him.
“It’s terrible. If you walked around in a T-shirt with that written on it in English, you would be arrested,” he said.
In QLD that’s probably not far off the mark.
But Wicked says that van was resprayed a year ago:
Wicked boss Dave Kinkead confirmed the company had owned a van with those slogans.
“As far as I am aware it was resprayed about a year ago and the last word was changed to something non sexual,” he said.
While Anna Bligh concerns herself with moral decay and other such pressing Roman matters, the State’s public transport and health systems remain a pathetic joke. What’s more offensive?
7 comments
Oscar Blyth says:
Aug 23, 2008
It says “Likku Mai Kanto” (cunt).
Irrae5 says:
Aug 23, 2008
The translation is ‘lick my cunt’.
Rich says:
Aug 23, 2008
The full phrase is “lick my cunt”
To put in proportion, in Cairns there are hundreds of mixed race kids who speak and read Japanese and English fluently.
There is a significant portion of the permanent resident population in Cairns, including my 8 year old son, who can read this.
Mike says:
Aug 24, 2008
Thanks for translating Oscar, Irrae and Rich.
Bob Bain says:
Aug 24, 2008
It should (perhaps) also be noted that Cairns is a town in which the local residents and the population depend (to an extent) on Japanese tourism – or at least did when I visited Cairns quite a few moons ago.
Taxi drivers could name flights bringing Japanese tourists into town and many locals had acquired the practice of bowing the head and other Japanese gestures – as in many cases wealthy Japanese tourists would reward this with a mighty big tip !
Upsetting the Japanese isn’t good for the tourist dollar, and I expect Anna Bligh had this is mind…
( mind you I expect some of the Japanese tourists would have difficulty getting legal Japanese pornography past Australian customs – not that the Japanese watch it of course – and we only admit mainstream tourists into Australia – not those in possession of legal Japanese pornography )
… and yes I’ve been to Japan (Tokyo) !
NB To the Japanese “almost anything goes” with the exception of depictions or reference to genitals – which are always subject to mosaic censorship. For graphic depictions of genitals they can view legal Australian porn if they visit major Eastern State outlets – which censors that which the Japanese consider “ok” but allows that which the Japense consider “not ok”…
If they attempt to take legal (Howard government approved) Australian porn back into Japan they’ll potentially have problems with Japanese customs !
go figure !
dangerous says:
Jan 10, 2010
Holy bloody hell.I hope this word is clamped on right away .Australians are not used to hearing the c word .U are a c .I had a c of a day etc .Lets all get up on our moral soap box and put on a big show .Pretty typical of modern Australians .A bunch of hypocritical C’s
gavin says:
Jan 31, 2010
Actually, it’s Japanese characters, but it’s actually a literal reading of an English phrase. English words, written in Japanese script as if they are ‘borrowed’ words.
For most Japanese, if they read it, they would’nt be able to understand it, it just kind of wouldnt make sense to them.
Japanese don’t swear in the same totally literal way we do. If I remember correctly, Namu watashi no omanco would be the phrase that would make literal sense to them, but even that would cause a quizzical look rather than offence. Doesn’t seem particulary important one way or the other to me. On the other handIf it said “Anna Bligh is a cunt”, well, that would be something I could endorse.