NEW YORK — McDonald’s swears up and down that the little yellow “Minions” Happy Meal toy is speaking only nonsense words and not something a little more adult.
Experts say the company may be right, and the curse words many hear may be tied to how our brains are primed to find words even when they’re not really there.
The world’s largest hamburger chain and purveyor of Happy Meals said Friday that it doesn’t plan to take the talking Happy Meal toy out of distribution, even though some customers say it sounds like it’s cursing.
A toy bought by The Associated Press made a sound that could be interpreted as the phrase often abbreviated as “WTF.” Another phrase sounded like it could be “Well, I’ll be damned.”
The sound quality of the toy makes it hard to say definitively who is right.
The little yellow Minion characters speak a nonsense language and McDonald’s Corp. said the Minion Caveman toy makes three sounds — “Ha ha ha,” “Para la bukay,” and “Eh eh.”
