Andy at the Marmot’s (new) Hole spots a misunderstanding in a USA Today item.:

I was reading about the President Bush’s trip to Korea, we I came across this:

When the women stopped singing, he approached them, and the choir members surrounded him, bowing and giggling. “Thank you all,” he said. “Be careful, don’t fall,” he said to some who pressed in close. Bush reached over and around them to try to shake each woman’s hand and lingered for photos. In one last shot, one of the women held up a peace sign.

Emphasis mine. Apparently nobody told the report that it was not a ‘peace’ sign but in fact a ‘ubiquitous V that most young Asians feel obliged to make whenever having their picture taken’ sign.

Somebody needs to take a cultural sensitivity class.

The item was likely filed by the paper’s White House correspondent, who was evidently not briefed on the ubiquitous ‘v-sign’ that appears in photos taken throughout in Asia, whether it’s Vietnam, Japan, Thailand or Taiwan. One Singapore blogger has even started the Sexy V-girls site.

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