Blunder marks BBC's New Year 's Day

The BBC News started the Lunar New Year on Jan. 31 with a blunder calling it the year of the “whores”, instead of “horse”. / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

The BBC News started the Lunar New Year on Jan. 31 with a blunder calling it the year of the “whores”, instead of “horse”.

“Welcome to the year of the whores. People around the globe celebrate,” read the subtitles.

Chinese viewers took a screen capture, and the image file went viral through the social networking services such as twitter and Facebook.

This isn’t the first time the BBC’s subtitles caused embarrassment for the broadcasting company.

During coverage of the Queen Mother’s funeral there was a call for a moment’s “violence” instead of silence.

The Archbishop of Canterbury was referred to as the “Arch bitch of Canterbury.”