God Bless Those Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys, and by "Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys," I Mean French-Speaking Washingtonians

Claim: Washing instruction tags on Tom Bihn bags carry a hidden message in French.

Status: True.

In April 2004, Tom Bihn label someone called attention to the fact something was a little odd about the care instruction tags found on backpacks and laptop cases produced by manufacturer TOM BIHN of Port Angeles, Washington. Specifically, what was unusual was that the English and French statements on those tags didn't quite match — while both versions included the usual admonitions not to use bleach, not to machine dry, and not to iron the bags, the French-language version included an extra phrase: "NOUS SOMMES DESOLES QUE NOTRE PRESIDENT SOIT UN IDIOT. NOUS N'AVONS PAS VOTE POUR LUI." Roughly translated, this statement reads in English as: "We're sorry our president is an idiot. We didn't vote for him."

Apparently, sales increased after the "secret" got out.