When Foreign Names Go Wrong
Today, in the shower, I looked up and noticed that my showerhead was made by a company called “Ugenex.” Now, Google tells me that the company is a subsidiary of Jing Mei Industries, but I immediately thought of “eugenics.”
I’m cynical enough to think that most Americans wouldn’t know what “eugenics” was except for a vague memory of having heard it in school before. According to Wikipedia, eugenics is “a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various forms of intervention.” Really, “eugenics” was a failed attempt to scientifically justify racism and supposed genetic cleanliness.
It’s a dirty term filled with the same baggage as any other term that tried to justify racism. Eugenics is the faux science that lead to thoughts like “black people are a musical people” or “jews are good with money.” In practice, eugenics is what lead to ideas in Nazi Germany of breeding the super race. The genetic component of racism is the crux of the matter her.
At any rate, I was standing in the shower thinking “why would a company name itself so as to imply such a dark connotation?” In the end, I suppose it was poor translation or just a mistake, but it caused me to pause and wonder how many other folks might have looked up during a shower and thought the same thing.