NIKE has offered a refund to a woman from Beijing who said she was embarrassed by a T-shirt she bought in Europe that contained a sexual innuendo in English, the Beijing Times reported yesterday.

The 40-year-old woman, whom the paper identified only by the surname Zhu, spent 115 yuan (US$15.31) on a Nike T-shirt, which the salesperson claimed was a top seller, during her trip to Europe in August.

However, both the salesperson and Zhu didn't understand the words on the T-shirt: "I like being on top."

When they reached the airport in Rome, a professor from Zhu's tourism group persuaded her to change her shirt because the words were embarrassing. The professor told her that the message meant she wanted sex.

While the words could be construed as a sexual innuendo, they are not as blatantly sexual as the professor suggested.

"I felt ashamed when I realized the meaning," Zhu was quoted as saying. "I finally understood why some people smiled weirdly and whistled at me," she said.

Nike said the T-shirt was sold globally but no other customers had complained.