The Dangers of a Chinese Holiday Party

I attended my company's holiday party last Friday evening.  For the first few hours (it was a long party) it was casino themed, creating a feel not unlike what one might expect at a bar mitzvah.  There was blackjack, poker, roulette, baccarat, and a dice game -- all of which you could gamble fake chips at for the opportunity to amass a chipstack big enough to win auction prizes at the end.  It was all very informal, though that didn't stop me from getting into an argument with the blackjack dealer -- who was very clearly not enjoying herself -- about why I should be allowed to double down whenever I damn please, not just on 11 (apparently, at some Asian casinos, this 11-only rule is a custom.  Weirdos).  Impulsive gambler that I am, I naturally lost my little bag's worth of chips three times, and each time was manage to surreptitiously steal a new bag.  I had twinges of guilt about this blatant disregard for the integrity of the game, though the auction prizes were pretty meaningless and silly indeed, so I didn't bid on any of them thereby relieving me of my guilt.

You'd think that a party planning company that specializes in this sort of theme party, often for international companies, would have mastered the art of English translation.  If not, you'd assume that my company, headquartered in California, would be able to translate English into Chinese.  Alas, you would also be surprised and amused, therefore, to find this sign in front of the Roulette table at the fake casino at my holiday party:

 

I mean...seriously?  Nobody, in what I imagine was a long line of people involved in the creation of this banner, had the moxie to suggest that the difference between roulette and Russian roulette is like the difference between an Irish car bomb and, you know, a plain old regular everyday car bomb?  And it's another example where the problem isn't translation, per se -- 俄罗斯 means Russia and  轮盘 roughly means roulette. The thought that this probably had to go through several levels of checking before it was approved for display at a party (where there were many children present) is hilarious to me.  The Chinese characters below the title proceed to offer a very basic explanation of roulette.  There's no confusion as to what this poster is advertising.  It's saying "come here! play this game!  here's how!" but gets the title of the game quite unfortunately wrong.