Man orders size 14.5 slipper and gets size 1,450 after ‘mistranslation in China’

Source: The Telegraph
Story flagged by: RominaZ

A man who ordered a special size 14.5 slipper to fit his oversized foot was sent a size 1,450 after the Chinese manufacturers failed to spot a decimal point in his order.

Tom Boddingham, 27, has a size 13 right foot while his left is slightly bigger measuring a size 14 and a half.

When he ordered his custom slipper, the manufacturers in China misread “size 14.5” and instead built a size 1,450 measuring 7ft long.

Mr Boddingham, who has always worn custom made shoes, said he now plans to sell the giant slipper on eBay.

A company spokesman for Monster Slippers apologised to Tom, from Ilford, in east London, and said the mistake occurred because of a translation error.

The spokesman said: “We have apologised to Mr Boddingham and are making him a replacement slipper of the right dimensions.”

A spokesman for the factory said they thought the slipper was for a shop window display.

See: The Telegraph

Comments about this article


Man orders size 14.5 slipper and gets size 1,450 after 'mistranslation in China'
urbom
urbom
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:15
German to English
+ ...
probably a PR stunt Oct 21, 2011

This has been revealed to be a PR stunt, and nothing to do with a translation error. If you follow the link to the current version on the Telegraph's site, the title and body of the article have both been changed.

See also the debunking by
... See more
This has been revealed to be a PR stunt, and nothing to do with a translation error. If you follow the link to the current version on the Telegraph's site, the title and body of the article have both been changed.

See also the debunking by the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2011/oct/20/monster-slipper-stunt?INTCMP=SRCH

This post should probably be removed from the Proz site.
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