ROMANIA—One could hear offices in Chatsworth erupt in cheers. At first glance, it appeared as if the Romanians had made a huge leap in tolerance to porn, at least as far as the Samsung Galaxy Tab goes. Screen shots of the newly released Android device showed a button on the main screen for “porn.”
No such luck. It turns out the “porn” button is really the home button.
“‘Pornire’ in Romanian means ‘start’ (the noun, not the verb),” explained UnwiredView.com. “Someone at Samsung decided there wasn’t enough space for the whole word beneath the house icon, so went and abbreviated it. Hence, ‘Porn.’”
The article goes on to say that it didn’t have to happen this way. The button takes you to the home screen. “A more appropriate word for that in Romanian is ‘acasa’ (though, for those who speak both Romanian and English, either possibility still sounds a bit strange).”
That led the writer, Vlad Bobleanta, to speculate that perhaps the mishap was not a mishap at all, but someone having a little fun, albeit at the country’s expense.
“One way or the other, the Galaxy Tab was showcased in Romania this past weekend with the ‘Porn’ button on it,” he wrote. “I wonder what Steve Jobs would say about this. If he’d be able to control his anger.”
Someone ought to write Jobs a 2 a.m. email to ask him. He might just reply.
