The Chico's Chinese Capri Pants

First of all, apologies for my total and complete slacking on the blog. However, my loving boyfriend does not have a home computer (***!!!***!!!) so I have to depend on jumping on his brother's computer when he's not home... like right now. I'm typing as fast as humanly possible so I finish up this entry before he gets home from the gym (as he likes to sit in front of match.com... errr, I mean his computer, all night when he's around). Of course, I don't think he'd care that I'm doing this, but I'd also feel a bit of a guilty twinge if he were milling about in the living room waiting for me to finish up writing about Chinese pants...

Which does, in fact, bring me to the topic of the day... my Chico's Chinese capri pants. I know, I know... Chico's... it does tend to evoke images of high school English teachers, FUPAs, and matronly women attending daytime book clubs at suburban homes, but every now and then I find something cool in the Chico's funky middle-age clothing collection.

The quinessential Chico's customer...

... AKA "The Artsy Mom"

Anyway, I have a pair of black capri pants with white and black Chinese symbols on them that I bought at Chico's a few years ago with the money I won in my office's "March Madness" NCAA betting pool... approximately $60. (And to think that I chose my teams by flipping a penny... seriously!)


The lucky penny that brought me to Chico's...

So... I was wearing my Chico's Chinese capri pants today at work. Around 11:30, I decided to head to lunch out in the office park courtyard, but I thought it would be smart to run in the bathroom and wash my hands before delving into my food. As I was standing in front of the mirror, staring listlessly at my misbehaving hair, I felt the gaze of a small Chinese woman standing next to me as she read over my pants...


Engrish transration: What in the herr is on youl pants?

(Sidenote: For more on Chinese-English translation, please go here)

Now, I must admit, I didn't have the faintest idea what my pants said so I asked the lady what was on them... and she replied, "Werr, it's velly strlange..." and she proceeded to tell me that it repeats "loss of life" and "hatred" over and over, as well as the occasional use of the word "us."

A quick Google check of Chinese symbols proves the woman correct...


This seemingly innocent symbol adorned on my right knee does indeed mean "hatred."

I can look at this two ways... either it truly reveals how I am feeling at work on a daily basis or it reflects how my co-workers felt when the dumbest sports person in the office won the NCAA betting pool two years ago. I'm opting for the latter...