Lost in Translation

From this morning's T-P:

Meffert was authorized to use the credit card to help NetMethods get business outside New Orleans, Smith said. Indeed, the Hawaiian trip with the Nagins had a business purpose attached: "to meet with a Chinese guy to talk up NetMethods," he said.

And a bit later

Asked who owned the company, Meffert replied: "My assumption was Mark St. Pierre was the owner of NetMethods."

Asked later whether he knew the company's business purpose or why it was created, Meffert said he did not. He later added that St. Pierre had said "he was going to start out and do, you know, stuff outside the city -- new company, new partners, new everything. That was roughly my understanding of why he incorporated NetMethods."

You can see, then, why Meffert was such a great international pitchman for NetMethods. "I don't know what the company's purpose is" is a big money-maker selling point when spoken in Chinese.