Lost in translation. Haltom City candidate’s signs in Vietnamese showed vulgar term
Willis Odell, who is running for Haltom City mayor, had several campaign signs translated into Vietnamese, but a typo and missing accent marks changed the meaning.
Odell said his signs were supposed to say, “Vote for Odell mayor for the people Haltom City, Texas,” but when people who understood Vietnamese saw the wording, it referred to male genitalia.
“It was a purely ridiculous deal, and all I can say is that I’m sorry,” he said.
Odell said he asked for help with making sure the wording was correct.
“I think someone was kidding around with me,” he said.
Odell said he didn’t know what his campaign signs said in Vietnamese.
“Another Asian guy told me. I said, for real?”
There were three or four signs in Vietnamese, and Odell said he removed and destroyed them once he knew the wording wasn’t appropriate.
Odell said he got a call Sunday from his opponent, Mayor An Truong who is Vietnamese-American and is also seeking re-election. Truong told him one of the campaign signs was still in place near a gas station.
Odell said he asked Truong to take down the sign.
“He was really nice and polite. He just said next time you do any signs, call me,” Odell said.
Truong said he was surprised when he saw his opponent’s signs.
”I called Odell directly and said I’m asking you to take it (the sign) down. You’re my opponent, and this makes you look so bad,” Truong said.
Truong said he saw Odell’s signs about 10 days ago. “I am very careful. I looked at it (the sign) about 10 times,” he said.
Quang Than, a retired engineer and certified translator, said the sign had a typo and missing accent marks which are critical to convey the proper meaning of words in Vietnamese.
“The sign has a vulgar meaning because of the slang we use… I’m not surprised that people reacted the way they did when they saw the signs,” he said.
Meanwhile, Odell said he made sure the offensive campaign signs were removed and destroyed.
“All I can say is that I’m sorry,” he said.
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 9:50 AM.