Debate Was So Bad That Foreign News Is Trying to Explain What a “Shitshow” Is

Americans have been using some … colorful language to describe the debate last night. From shitshow to clusterfuck to many news outlets just forgetting the unspoken rule against profanity and writing “what the fuck is this garbage?” many of us are using expletives to express our outrage and upset.

But that’s also causing a bit of a problem when it comes to translating whatever the f**k is happening in America right now for foreign publications. For instance, The Asahi Shimbun (which is a Japanese publication and is one of five national publications in the country) was having a bit of a problem with “shitshow,” which CNN’s Dana Bash broke out immediately following the … display.

And, look, their translation isn’t exactly wrong.

Politico reported, in an article about horrified international reactions to our newest national embarassment,

The debate set foreign media outlets scrambling to decode Americans’ own, often colorful, denunciations of the debate. For Asahi Shimbun, a leading Japanese newspaper, the challenge was translating “shitshow.” Their answer: “a show that is like shit,“ part of an article headlined, “The worst debate ever.” Deutsche Welle, Germany’s public broadcaster for global audiences, felt the need to define “clusterfuck” as “a complex and utterly disordered and mismanaged situation: a muddled mess.”

To be honest, I feel bad for any foreign publication trying to understand what the hell is going on in America right now in general, because all we’re doing is screaming. Last night, Rachel Maddow would just laugh when something happened, and even Joe Biden just chuckled 90% of the time. None of us know what’s going on, and then we’re out here making up words to express how absolutely horrific the state of this country is.

Even though most of the Chinese media ignored the debate, Hu Xijin, editor of China’s Global Times, tweeted about the chaos that is whatever our government currently is:

So, The Asahi Shimbun, you’re not wrong. It is a show that is like shit, just like the rest of this country. We’re falling into chaos with no way of getting out and every step forward we make leads to a staircase of mistakes that we fall down. So, yes, our language is now getting a bit more “colorful” so to speak, but … can you blame us? This is a show that is like shit.

(via @War_Kittens on Twitter, image: Olivier DOULIERY and Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

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Rachel Leishman

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Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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