Probably One of the Last Names You Should Give Your Shop
He said he thought Hitler was a “good, catchy” name for his shop. In fact, his business plan seems to include cashing in on the name to attract customers. “We have not written anything below the sign or on our cards to indicate what we sell to generate mystery,” he said. “The customers who come in tell me they came in seeing the name.”
I just read this story in India Ink, the Times blog on India, and would have believed it if you told me it was from an Onion article. Because the story went on to say that other businesses in India have also named their business after the Nazi, for example, Hitler’s Den, a pool parlor. WHAT? Also this: “He added that he did not believe that Hitler was ‘such a bad person.’” Again, WHAT?
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Previously on The Billfold
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…and he is wearing a gandhi tee-shirt.
amazing. in the most offensive of all possible ways, amazing.
@wearitcounts “I do not want to see the allies defeated. But I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed. Englishmen are showing the strength that Empire builders must have. I expect them to rise much higher than they seem to be doing.” — Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1940
@stuffisthings hmm. i had no idea gandhi was so misinformed.
@wearitcounts It’s a long story actually. I think Christopher Hitchens or somebody wrote an interesting piece about it once? But yeah, Gandhi’s relationship with Hitler was a little more complicated than one might think. (Also there is the argument that, in 1940, not many people were aware of the Final Solution, especially in India)
@stuffisthings i was going to say, 1940 was a bit early for people in india to really be aware of what was actually happening. i mean, they didn’t have twitter so NOBODY KNEW ANYTHING EVER.
This is a big thing in a lot of southeast Asian countries – basically places where “the war against hitler” wasn’t as big a deal. Shit, in LA there’s a restaurant called Mao’s Kitchen, which is certainly in the same REGION of offensiveness. (Maybe worse since Mao, you know, starved people to death? Would be like Hitler’s Brick Oven Pizzeria.)
You’d be thinking differently if HItler won!
Because you would be dead, Indians.
In Turkmen the way you make plurals is by adding “-ler” to the end of the word. And the English word “hit” had been adopted by the bootleg CD industry. So there were lots of albums called “Turkmen Hitler” or “R&B Hitler” or what have you…