A Not So Easy Button

According to The New York Times, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a present, meant as a joke, before having dinner with him yesterday in Geneva. As Mark Landler author of "Lost in Translation - A U.S. Gift to Russia" put it, "Before the appetizer was served, the diplomatic first date had gotten off to an awkward start because of a gag gift gone awry." (p.A7) Looking very similar to the Staples "Easy Button," the word 'reset' is printed at the bottom with the Russian 'peregruzka' at the top. In between the two is a red button that fills most of the yellow plastic square. The joke refers to Vice-President Joe Biden's comments at the conference in Munich about a month ago where he quoted President Obama as saying it was time for the U.S. and Russia to press the "reset button" and get their relationship back on track. The unfortunate twist, however, is that 'peregruzka' means 'overcharged' rather than 'reset'. In spite of the mishap, Mr. Landler leaves the reader with the feeling that Secretary Clinton and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a good exchange, at least of words.

I see this little episode as illustrating how sensitive representatives of the United States must be when relating with people of other cultures, especially when different languages are involved.

The New York Times, Saturday, March 7, 2009, "Lost in Translation - A U.S. Gift to Russia" by Mark Landler, p. A7
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/world/europe/07diplo.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=March%207,%202009,%20before%20discussing%20resetting%20U.S.%20relations&st=cse