- What Does Mail Slot Mean In Spanish Translation
- What Does English In Spanish Mean
- What Does Mean In English
- What Does Espanol Mean
People forward translation and cultural mistakes tome, and I love them. I hope you enjoy these as well.Often I receive the same ones over and over. Please only send me onesthat are not listed here. (Please search this page first.) Also if possible, please provide a reference withyour submission. I try to research and confirm these before posting.
Also, take these with a grain of salt...They may be contrived and not true,or if true, unrecognizably transformed.
The siteAbout Spanish Languageindicates many of these are patently untrue. Snopes, and other urban legends sites also havearticles on some of these items.I suspect reality lies somewhere in between total truth and total falsehood.
Acknowledgements: Some of the original sources are credited here.
What Does Mail Slot Mean In Spanish Translation
Tex 'I am a jelly doughnut' Texin Copyright © 1999-2009 Tex Texin. All rights reserved. Do not copy this page!
What is Priority Mail®? In Latin Baby Names the meaning of the name Bella is: A. Also a diminutive of Annabella and Arabella meaning yielding to prayer. Also ameaning beautiful, loving, lovable, graceful. See 10 authoritative translations of Slot in Spanish with example sentences, conjugations and audio pronunciations.
But why bother with apocryphal stories, when you can read absolutely true ones? See:
True Incidents andJapanese For 'That Poor Woman'.
What Does English In Spanish Mean
Translations That (Allegedly) Embarassed Their Marketing Departments
Body Bags 2006-03-05Almost as good as the confusion among English speakers over theterm Fanny Pack,is the humor raised by the German equivalent for knapsack. Companies often useor 'borrow' words from other languages to give their product names a certain cachet.Sometimes their choices are a bit odd. German makers of knapsacks refer to them as 'Body Bags'.Vielen Danke to Marc Tobias for this item. |
CBS 60 Minutes New! 2006-02-25I use an interpreter from time to time, so I know how difficult the job is. The following Translator Mistakeis reported on October 6, 2000 on the CBS News Web Site among other places. Look for the side bar on 'Lost In Translation'.(Which has not got to be one of the most overused, unclever, cliche headings in the past few years. Strike it from the language alongwith 'without further ado'.)60 Minutes' Mike Wallace, known for his tough interviewing style,drew a sharp rebute from Boris Yeltsin -thanks to a translator's error.The confusion arose when Wallace asked Yeltsin if he had a 'thin skin' when it came to public criticism,but the translation had Wallace describing Yeltsin as a 'thick-skinned hippopotamus.' Yeltsin was not amused. 'An experienced journalist like yourself,' Yeltsin said,'should express himself in a more civilized fashion. But this may be the translator's fault,and if so, he is the hippopotamus!' |
Orange New! 2006-02-16During its 1994 launch campaign, the telecom company Orangehad to change its ads in Northern Ireland.'The future's bright … the future's Orange.'That campaign is an advertising legend. However, in the North the termOrange suggests the Orange Order.The implied message that the future is bright, the future is Protestant, loyalist...didn't sit well with the Catholic Irish population.Thanks to Janet O'Sullivan |
GPT New! 2006-02-18In 1988, the General Electric Company (GEC) and Plessey combined to create a new telecommunications giant.A brand name was desired that evoked technology and innovation. The winning proposal was GPT forGEC-Plessey Telecommunications.A not very innovative name and not suggestive of technology and a total disaster for European branding.GPT is pronounced in French as “J’ai pété” or “I've farted”.Thanks to Jem Shaw! |
Life Fitness New! 2006-01-24Life Fitness is a maker of exercise equipment, bikes, ski machines etc. Their logo made me laugh.I was walking around the exerciseroom to stretch my legs after some strenuous biking when I first noticed it.At first I thought it said “4F”. Now, for those of you that don't know, the Americanmilitary, when there was a draft, had a rating for recruits. If you were “1A”, you were healthy and fit for duty.“4F” is the code for those that are physically unfit and unacceptable to the army. So “4F” was a rather inappropriatelogo for a health fitness machine. It took me about a minute to realize it wasn't “4F”, but “LF” the initials for LifeFitness. |
Waterpik 2004-12-24Waterpik uses another name in Denmark. 'Pik' isthe common Danish word for male genitals. Most Danescan easily translate 'water' to the danish word 'vand'. And'vandpik' is a term for the morning erection.'And you put that thing in your mouth?!?!' Thanks to Jørgen Lykkebo! |
PepsiCo India 2004-10-06I was visiting Bangalore, India when thelocal news (for example, rediff india) was widelyreporting the legal consequences of a marketing mistake by Pepsi.Pepsi is being sued in a Hyderabad, India city courtin a public interest litigation for glorifying child labor in a television ad.In the ad, the Indian cricket team is in a celebratory huddle when a young boy serves them Pepsi. |
Binney & Smith Crayola 2004-11-06Crayola has changed color names over time due to the civil rights movement and other social pressures.In 1962, Binney & Smith replaced flesh with peach, in recognition of the wide variety ofskin tones. More recently, in 1999, they changed indian red to chestnut. The color was not namedafter Native Americans, it was actually named for a special pigment that came from India. But school childrenoften assumed the incorrect origin of the name. There are many sites listing the history of Crayola colors,including Crayola's own history page. |
Financial Asia Times 2004-05-13Nick Lord writes a story for Finance Asia: 'Rudi Pecker taking the head job and top slot at Misys'.Do you think Nick or the editors at Finance Asia might have had an idea about the double entendre?If the article link goes away, you can read about Mr. Pecker's rise up, here.Thanks to Carlos Silva! |
Panasonic 2004-05-13According to the EE Times, October 8, 1996 (and numerous web sites), Matsushita Electricwas promoting a Japanese PC for internet users. It came with a Japanese Web browsercourtesy of Panasonic.Panasonic had licensed the cartoon character'Woody Woodpecker' as the 'Internet guide.'The day before a huge marketing campaign was to begin, Panasonicstopped the product launch.The reason: the ads featured the slogan 'Touch Woody - The Internet Pecker.'An American at the internal product launchexplained to the stunned and embarrassed Japanese what 'touch woody' and'pecker' meant in American slang. Thanks to A. Vine for pointing me at this! |
Port Wallhamn 2004-05-08Port Wallhamn is a Swedish port.The companies that surround it used to give their employees ties with the logo 'W' and an anchor.The combination forms a very nice rebus for Wanker, much to the chagrin of the British workers whohad to wear it.Thanks to Hendrik Demol! If someone has a tie and could send me a photo of it, that would be much appreciated! |
Gerber 2004-05-08Gerber, the name of the famous baby food maker, is also the French word for vomiting.It becomes a bit limiting when you go global... Gerber is therefore not in France, and although Gerber has aFrench Canadian web page,it says 'Les aliments pour bébés Gerber ne sontdisponibles pour l'instant qu'aux États-Unis' (French for: The baby food ain't here, try the U.S.)Thanks to Hendrik Demol! |
Bastard or Baathist? 2004-04-03The newspaper The Australian had to apologize for changing aSenator's use of 'Baathist' to 'Bastard'.A story headlined 'Syria seeks our help to woo US' in Saturday's Weekend Australianmisquoted National Partysenator Sandy Macdonald. The quote stated: 'Syria is a country that has been a bastard state for nearly 40 years'but should have read 'Syria is a country that has been a Baathist state for nearly 40 years.' The Australian's editorial staff then drowned their sorrows at the local pub with several'Suffering Baathists'. My thanks to Rick C for his pointer to Samizdata's blog report for this item. |
Latte Anyone? 2004-03-16Latte means milk in Italy. In English, Latte is a coffee-drink.Many folks like to head to Starbucks or other coffee shops to take early morning latte breaks...In Germany, Latte is a well known word for an erection.So, 'morning latte' is when you wake up in the morning with an erection!The word 'break' means 'destroy', so taking that 'morning latte break' isdestroying that erection. I'll leave the details to your imagination, as well as all thepuns on how you take your steaming hot drink. This item is thanks to Jochen Gumpert, a standup guy!Apparently, Germans are amused at American morning television shows called'Morning Latte' and book's like the popular Amanda Hesser's book 'Cooking for Mr. Latte'! |
Yellow Transportation 2004-3-8Some will think it a mistake. I think it's brilliant. The logo forYellow Transportation says the name 'Yellow' in bold black letters on hey, wait-a-second... that's not yellow!Right it is orange.And orange is all over their trucks, collateral, etc. It's good marketing that stops and makes you take a second lookor makes you wonder. Apparently theynamed the company Yellow,and later sought out the safest color for their trucks.Collaborating with Dupont they came up with 'Swamp Holly Orange'.OK, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure outyou don't want to rename the company Swamp anything. Nevertheless, I like their commitment to safety whilemaintaining their identity and having a cool marketing strategy, which goes back to the 1930's.Oh, you wanted mistakes. See the next item. |
IKEA FARTFULL 2004-3-8IKEA sells this workbench as the FARTFULL. AlthoughIKEA's web page says FARTFULL is not for sale on the web,I still enjoy recommending it as the perfect gift suggestion for various people.Swedish is a Germanic language, and 'Fährt'is German for travel, so I am sure'fartfull' is being used here to suggest mobility, given the desk's wheelsand design. Swedish has several words for fart, but one of them is 'Fjärt',which strikes me as close enough thattheir marketing department knew what it was doing. If even bad press is good public relations, thenthis is a case of allowing an ill wind to blow some good. |
Ford Pinto, Ford Corcel Updated! 2004-1-12Everyone, get out your web erasers! This popular story is debunked.Marcelo de Castro Bastos informs us (and confirmed elsewhere): Ford Pinto (under any name) wasn't ever sold in Brazil, exceptmaybe as a low-volume import. The Ford Corcel was a totally unrelatedproduct, the result of a joint project by the Brazilian subsidiary ofWillys Overland and French automaker Renault (Willys used to makeRenault cars, like the Dauphine and Gordini, under license in Brazil.)When Ford acquired Willys's Brazilian operation, they inherited thealmost-finished project and decided to launch it under their ownbrand. They MAY have considered to use the 'Pinto' brand on it, butsaner heads prevailed and decided on the 'Corcel' name in order tokeep to the 'horse' theme Ford seemed to like at the time. The 'Pinto'name was never used in Brazil. 'Corcel' was a huge success, and remained in productionfor more than a decade, spawning a station wagon version called'Belina', a second-generation 'Corcel II', a luxury version called'Del Rey' and a light pick-up version called 'Pampa'. In the earlyeighties, almost the entire production of Ford Brazil's automobiledivision was comprised of Corcel-related vehicles. DEBUNKED!Ford's Pinto didn't do well in Brazil. Pinto is Brazilian slang for 'male genitals'.Ford renamed the car the Corcel, which means horse or steed.Note 1: If it were my translation marketing department I would have renamed the car'Dear God, I hope my gas tank doesn't explode!' Note 2: 'Pinto' is reported all over the web, along with this story,as meaning 'tiny male genitals' or a 'man with small genitals'.According to Luiz Pryzant, it just refers to 'male genitals'. |
SEPR Ersol 2004-1-11Bill Leahy sends this gem: Saint-Gobain is a large French glass and ceramics company.Their subsidiary, SEPR, invented a material used in the bottom of furnaces that melt glass.The product was named 'Ersol' which comes from 'Electro Refractaire Sol'.Sol is the French word for bottom (of the furnace). Electro Refractaire refers to it being refractory(resists softening at high temperature) and so is made by electrically melting it.A sensible name, until they introduced the product into the United Kingdom. Ersol sounds too close to arsehole! However, when alerted to the language problem thecompany decided not to change it. Combine the name with the product's bottom position, and you can see why some product descriptionsmight read inappropriate to the British: 'contraction which occur during the solidification process must be carefully controlled,as it affects the homogeneity of the piece, the volume and location of the shrinkage cavity,and the residual stress.' That said, I noted several companies named Ersol on the web. |
Aussie Nads 2004-1-10Boxes labeled Aussie Nads caught my attention in the local Walgreens. In my limitedvocabulary 'Aussie' means Australian and 'Nads' is colloquial for gonads, in particular testicles.So my first thought was that the box contained the international version of 'Rocky Mountain Oysters'or 'Prairie Oysters'. (Here are some testicle recipes.) But I wasn't in the food aisle.My second thought was that these werereplacement parts... After all, I get an e-mail every 15 minutes offering me either viagara or organextensions, so it's not such an unreasonable conclusion. But the idea that some very macho Australians, nodoubt from the Outback, decided they were man enough to sell one of their parts and still have enough leftover to make out ok (pun intended) was implausible. Closer inspection of the box reveals thatAussie Nads is a hair removal product. Another well-named product is 'Nad's for Men' and don't forget to order 'Nad's Wand'the 'facial applicator wand'. Seems like they are penetrating many new markets and sovery soon they will be in a store barely a stone's throw away from you. Glen Thomas points out that there is awell-known greyhound named 'nads' in Australia, frequently spurred on by the crowd yelling'Go Nads'. |
Intimidate Dating Service 2004-1-10Israeli radio and press ran ads for the Intimidate Dating Service. Now you might think that Intimidatetries to match up sadists with masochists. However, Hagit Rozanes informs us that 'Intimi'is the Hebrew word for intimate. (Hmmm. Better hope your date speaks Hebrew or you are infor a rough night...) |
Liebfraumilch Wine 2004-1-10Several people wrote me about Germany's most exported wine: Liebfraumilch.'Lieb' means 'dear' or 'beloved'sometimes a reference to 'God' or 'holy'. 'Frau' is 'woman',and 'Milch' is 'milk'. Hence 'beloved woman's milk', also translated as 'Milk of the Virgin'or 'Milk of Our Lady'.E-mails also offered translations of 'women love milk', and 'loves woman milk'.The name comes from its origins in about the 16th century in thevineyards of the Liebfrauenkirche ('Church of Our Lady') in Worms, Germany. (Worms Wine would alsohave been a Marketing Mistake!) (Read more in theFood Dictionary.) It would probably be a Marketing Mistake for Liebfraumilch to produce a variation of theGot Milk? ads with paintings of a woman'sbreast and the milk mustache on it, next to their wine bottle. (Maybe pencil in a mustache in thisEl Greco...) |
Götzen 2004-1-10The european hardware store chain 'Götzen' opened a mall in Istanbul.'Göt' means 'ass' in Turkish. They changed the name to 'Tekzen'.Thanks to Hakan Turan! |
Wang Cares 2004-1-10In the late '70s, the American computer company Wang was puzzled why itsBritish branch refused to use its latest motto 'Wang Cares'. However, to British ears the mottosounds too close to 'wankers'. (masturbaters)Thanks to Malcolm Howlett! |
Opel Ascona 2004-1-10General motors made a car named 'Opel Ascona'. This model sold poorly in Galicia, the northwesternregion of Spain. In the galician and also portuguese languages,the term is similar to the term for female genitalia.Thanks to Anjo. |
Inferno Undertaker 2004-1-4The 1990's saw the emergence of private-ownedcompanies and the re-introduction of cremation in Estonia.Kai Redone reports that during that period an undertaker in Tallinn, Estonia named itself Inferno,causing several raised eyebrows. I didn't see the problem right away. I thoughtinferno's meaningis 'a very intense and uncontrolled fire' or conflagration.However, although that is one sense for the word, inferno's major usage is 'hell', 'purgatory'or 'perdition'. I can imagine the advertisement for Inferno: |
Mitsubishi Starion 2003-12-30Andrew Harris of Australia writes:'Mitsubishi had a very successful small car called theColt. They brought out a slightly larger model, but right up to thelast minute, couldn't decide on a name for it.The people here were in a last minute conference call to the Japaneseexecs trying to make a decision when the final word came through that'Stallion' would be a suitable 'horsey' name to follow Colt. Troublewas, the name wasn't written, but spoken with a thick Japanese accentand the Aussie end were mystified, but duly wrote down 'Starion'. Bythe time the mistake was realised the badging and ads had been startedand it was too late to stop it.'It's a great story and Snopes categorizes it as a definite maybe.With so many car names on this page, you have to wonder if these marketing mistakes aren't intentional,owing to the theory that even bad press is allegedly good marketing... I like that Andrew's version attributes the choice of the name to Mitsubishi's 'Aussie' management.Many of the reports I receive have a local or localized coloring. The car is of course sold internationallyand othe reports (such as in Snopes) attribute the problem due to American (mis-)management. There isprobably a U.K. version as well... |
Nintendo Donkey Kong 2003-12-30Snopes (and Nintendo)refutes the notion that Nintendo Donkey Kong was originally to be known as Monkey Kong,or that either a smudged fax or a typographic error resulted in the product's actual name. |
Yamaha Electric Grand Keyboard 2003-12-27Yamaha had a mistranslation in their assembly instructions for their Electric Grand Keyboard,circa 1993. They should have written 'screw' and ended up instead with instructions for the over-21 crowd.(And for consistency, it should have been called a Grand Organ...) |
Irish Mist Liqueur 2003-12-27Bad translations using the word 'Mist' in Germany keep coming my way. (See Mist Stickand Silver Mist.)D. Fleming reported that Irish Mist didn't do well in Germany either. Other sources claimed it wasmarketed with the semi-Germanized Irischer Mist, which would translate back to English as Irish dung.(Babelfish translated it kindly as 'Irish muck'.)(German Customs should just turn 'Mist' products back at the border!) |
Toaplan Zero Wing 'All your base are belong to us' 2003-12-24Toaplan was a video game maker that had a terrible, Japanese-to-English translation of the intro totheir Zero Wing game, with great lines like: 'Somebody set up us the bomb.'Although the company went out of business, the translation and in particular the line'All your base are belong to us' became a phenomenon crossing from the net intopopular culture. Hey, if you are gonna blow it, blow it big! A web search will find plenty of hilarious web pagesfeaturing the line. Here is ahistory page and aninformative news item. |
Traficante Mineral Water 2003-12-23Traficante is an Italian brand of mineral water. In Spanish, it means drug dealer. |
Volkswagen Jetta 2003-12-20Volkswagen named the sedan version of Golf the Jetta.However, the letter 'J' doesn't exist in the Italian alphabet, so Jetta is pronounced 'Ietta',which means Misfortune...Thanks to Alberto Malin. Omanko writes:It's true... the letter J don't exist in the Italian alphabet but it is in use a long time.(e.g. There is also an old city called Jesi and Italian names like Jacopo...).The word ietta don't exist in Italian but Jella exists (yes, youwrite it with the letter J!) and there are two or three words derived from this one, e.g.jettatore/iettatore (evil-eyed man) or jettatura/iettatura (bad luck).In neapolitan dialect Jetta means throw, throw away!!! 'Additionally, ever since it was introduced, the car was marketed with theEnglish pronunciation of 'J' so it IS called 'jay-tta' by the Italianaudience.' OK The word Jetta is meaningless in Italian, and sales are good. Score one for VW Marketing.I would like to say case closed, but in fairness to Alberto and the othersthat wrote me that 'Jettas were bad luck', translationally speaking,there can be regional or dialectical differences, and so it may be more true in some Italian-speaking areas.Also, as with all the entries here, I check for other sources before posting, and did find someother mentions of it. So perhaps it is an urban legend or a case of 'You say Jetta, I say Ietta'. OK, More mail from Italy. Francesco V. of Calabria writes that Jetta does mean 'throw away',not only in Neapolitan dialect, but in southern Italy. Grazie Molto! |
Hoover Zyklon, Umbro Zyklon, Siemens Zyklon 2003-12-20Hoover, maker of vacuum cleaners, sells a model on the European market, including Germany, calledthe Zyklon. Zyklon is the German word for Cyclone, so it is a seemingly sensible choice for a powerfulvacuum. However, Zyklon Bis the lethal gas used by Nazis in concentration camps.I would think that the name would draw protests,but I see German web sites currently selling the vacuums for less than 200 euro.Perhaps, if readers are aware of either protests or reasons that it is not considered offensive, they wille-mail me.Meanwhile, CNN.com reported on August 28, 2002, that British shoe maker Umbroreceived many protests for its running shoe the Zyklon. Umbro apologized and renamed it.Apparently, the shoe had been named the Zyklon since 1999, but they had not written the name on the shoeuntil recently. A week later, BBC News reported thatBosch Siemens Hausgeraete (BSH) was withdrawing its trademark application for the name Zyklon.BSH had filed two applications with the US Patent & Trademark Office for 'Zyklon' acrossa range of home products, including gas ovens. |
Reed Business News 2003-12-20A few years back Reed Business News relaunched itself with the branding:'If it's news to you, it's news to us.'.It was replaced after a couple of days... Thanks to Adam Rutherford. |
Hong Kong Tourist Board 2003-12-20According to TravelBiz.com.auin April, 2003 the Hong Kong Tourist Board tried to either pull their ads or havetheir slogan changed. But it was too late to change the campaign that was on billboards throughout Hong Kongand in British versions of Cosmopolitan and Conde Nast Traveller.The slogan that was running 'Hong Kong: It will take your breath away.'unfortunately coincided with the SARS epidemic that resulted in numerous deaths.Shortness of breath is one of the main symptoms of SARS. |
Sharwoods 2003-11-18MediaGuardian.co.uk reports: Sharwoods £6m campaign tolaunch its new Bundh sauces received calls immediately from numerous Punjabi speakers.'bundh' sounds like the Punjai word for 'arse'.Sharwoods has no intention of changing it.'We hope that once they understand the derivation of the Bundh sauce range andtaste the delicious meals they can produce, they will agree that it is miles apart from thePunjabi word that is similar but spelled and pronounced differently (with a long 'u').' Thanks to Paul Kerins for this. |
Peanut Chocolate BarsAnyone know the name of the peanut-packed chocolate bar that lost out in the Japanesemarket because many Asians believe peanuts and chocolate cause nosebleeds?Both peanuts and chocolate (actually caffeine) cause allergic reactions. I didn't findreports on the web of their causing nosebleeds specifically, but I did find pages where individualsare avoiding them to prevent nosebleeds. Also, asian diets are very different from western dietsand so tolerances differ. |
General Motors Buick LaCrosse 2003-10-22Reuters reports: General Motors Corp. will rename its Buick LaCrosse in Canadabecause the name for the car is slang for masturbation in Quebec,embarrassed officials with the U.S. automaker said on Thursday.GM officials, who declined to be named, said it had been unaware that LaCrosse was aterm for self-gratification among teenagers in French-speaking Quebec.GM officials in Canada are working on a new name for the car... |
Pizza Hut P'Zone 2003-06-23Pizza Hut is advertising their new dish, a calzone they named the P'Zone. It is pronounced like'pezón', the Spanish word for 'nipple'.Susana says the Pizza Hut PR dept. in Texas told her they knew about this before launching the campaign.Maybe we shouldn't file this under mistakes then, and instead put it under interesting marketing strategies! Muchas gracias to Susana C. Schultz of Strictly Spanishfor this report! |
Honda Fitta/Jazz/Fit 2003-04-06Car maker Honda introduced their new car 'Fitta' in theNordic countries during 2001, only to find out that 'fitta' is anold word, currently used in vulgar language to refer to a woman'sgenitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. It was renamed to'Honda Jazz' for the Nordic market.According to newspaper articles, Japanese ads said that '[Fitta] issmall on the outside, but large on the inside'. It's now called the Honda Fit in Japanese markets. My thanks to Peter Karlsson for this report! |
SEGA 2003-04-05In Italy 'sega' is the unofficialbut most popular name for the act of male masturbation. So, the popular videogame makers SEGA Enterprises,attempting to disassociate SEGA from sega, changed thepronunciation to 'see-ga' in their ads, as if to educate Italians aboutproper English (or Japanese?) pronunciation.Many Italians are surprised to learn that SEGA is not pronounced see-ga, but say-ga, outside of Italy. Also alleged, is that when the SEGA-sponsored Arsenal Gunners soccer teamwas to play the Italian Fiorentina team for the Championship (circa 1999),the Arsenals argued to play the game in the U.K. Apparently, their away flagdisplays the sponsor prominently and it might inspire, erI mean offend the Italian TV audience. |
American or Braniff AirlinesWhen American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather firstclass seats in the Mexican market, it translated its 'Fly In Leather'campaign literally, which meant 'Fly Naked' ('vuela en cuero') inSpanish!Some reports say it was Braniff not American.About Spanish Language (part 2) says'The idiom for 'buck naked' is 'en cueros', not 'en cuero'. Even abeginning translator would realize that a word play such as 'inleather' might not work in a literal translation.' Interestingly, Castaways Travel of Spring, Texas thought flying naked was a good idea. See these articles:Houston Business Journal: Inaugural flight makes nudes headlinesanderrtravel.com: Berrly Flying |
American Motors MatadorThe Matador did not do well in Puerto Rico where 'matador' has the connotation of 'killer'.(Bull-fighting was abolished on the island more than 100 years ago, when the U.S. took controlof Puerto Rico.) |
Bacardi Pavane/PavianPopular story these days is that Bacardi marketed a drink called either Pavane, which sounds likePavian, or it marketed a drink called Pavian. The latter sounds plausible, if they wanted to goafter the healthy, aristocratic, pure water drinkers, as it sounds like the brand 'Evian'.Either name would have given the fruity drink a French mystique.The claim is the Bacardi drink doesn't do well in Germany where 'Der Pavian' means'the Baboon' auf Deutsch... |
Chevy Nova, Vauxhall Nova, Opel Corsa Updated 2004-01-19When General Motors introduced the Chevrolet (aka Chevy) Nova in South America, itwas apparently unaware that 'no va' means 'it won't go'. Afterthe company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed thecar in its Spanish markets to the Caribe.This one is untrue. For more background on this, see: About Spanish Language (part 1), http://www.urbanlegends.com/products/chevy_nova_mexico.html, http://www.tafkac.org/products/chevy_nova_mexico.html, and http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.htm. Steven Marzuola wrote me: 'I grew up in Venezuela, and therewere Novas all over the place. I have also learned that it didrather well in Mexico. It was not offered in many othercountries, for a variety of reasons, but none of them having todo with the name.' Steve Checkley informs me that in mainland Europe, the GM carknown as the Vauxhall Nova inthe United Kingdom, is known as the Opel Corsa.This is true as I have confirmed it elsewhere. TheEuropean Novas were launched in 1983. However, the Americanversion ran from 1961 (starting with the 1962 model) through to1979. The pictures that I have seen of the European Novas don't look like the American Novas.There may have been some similarities under the covers of course.But I think the cars were different generations and probably only related by name.Here is a history of the American Nova and ahistory of the Vauxhall Nova 1983-1993 For related items, see Vauxhall Nova andNoah's Chevy Nova |
Clairol Mist StickClairol introduced the 'Mist Stick', a curling iron, into Germanonly to find out that 'mist' is slang for manure. Not too many peoplehad use for the 'manure stick'.Actually, this is not quite right and confuses the curling iron story with theRolls Royce Siver Mist example.The German word “Miststück” (pronounced similarly to Mist Stick)is how you might call a woman a bitch or slut. |
Coca-Cola FrescaIn Mexico, Fresca is a term for Lesbian. Jokes abound, but sales weren't hurt.(Despite what you read elsewhere on the web.) There are many fruit drinks named Agua Fresca(fresh water). |
Coca-Cola, Ke-ke-ken-la, Ko-kou-ko-leThe name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-ke-ken-la.Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until afterthousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means'bite the wax tadpole' or 'female horse stuffed with wax'depending on the dialect.Coke then researched 40,000 Chinesecharacters and found a close phonetic equivalent, 'ko-kou-ko-le,'which can be loosely translated as 'happiness in themouth.'For more background on Coke in China, see: Snopes.comorwww.kekoukele.org/kekoukele.htm. |
Colgate CueColgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the nameof a notorious porno mag.I have received several mails saying that they don't know of a French magazine named Cue.This story goes back to the early '90s so Cue might have existed and gone out of business since then.Others have written that they do know of a magazine named Cul, which is pronounced like cue(e.g. 'kyu'). Personally, I don't give this story much credence.However, from the mails I get, a lot of people are out searching for this magazine.If anyone wants to join me in publishing a French porn magazine named Cue, there is a ready market for it! |
CoorsCoors put its slogan, 'Turn it loose' into Spanish, whereit was read as 'Suffer from diarrhea'. |
Electrolux VacuumThe Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux tried to sell its goodsin America but didn't help itself with this slogan, 'Nothing sucks likean Electrolux.' |
Ford Comet, Ford CalienteFord's Comet, was called 'Caliente' in Mexico.'Caliente' literally means 'hot' (as in temperature), but colloquially it is also used foreither 'horny' or 'prostitute'. |
Ford CortinaFord's Cortina is translated as 'jalopy'. |
Ford FieraFord's Fiera doesn't do well with Spanish-speaking Latin-Americans, since 'fiera' means 'ugly old woman'. |
Gerber Baby FoodWhen Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the samepackaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label.Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures onthe label of what's inside, since most people can't read.Snopes dismisses the African baby food storyas an example of 'cultural prejudice'. I am a big fan of Snopes, but in this case I am a littledisappointed. I don't mind if the story is totally false and completely fabricated, butit would be nice if Snopes offered some evidence such as interviews with someone(s) from Africa,or perhaps a statement from Gerber or other companies selling baby food in Africa, thatthey continue to market the product with baby pictures on the label. Hmm. OK I'll writeto Gerber and see if I can get a statement from them and post the result back here. |
Hyundai PonyRichard Seamon reports: Hyundai had problems with theHyundai Pony. In Cockney rhyming slang, 'Pony' is short for 'pony andtrap', meaning crap.It didn't deter Hyundai, they still marketed it in the UK (circa 1982).(Mentioned in Independent.co.uk.) |
Hunt-Wesson Big John, Gros JosHunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada asGros Jos before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means'big breasts'. In this case, however, the name problem did nothave a noticeable effect on sales. |
International Wine Glass SymbolStevadores in an unnamed African port, seeing the international --but evidently not universal!-- symbolfor 'fragile' (a wine glass with snapped stem) presumedit meant that some idiot had sent a cargo of broken glass. So they obligingly pitched all the casesoverboard into the harbour!(As reported some years ago in Print, the journal for graphic design, and submitted by Margaret Tarbet.) |
Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFCAlso in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan 'finger-lickin'good' came out as 'eat your fingers off.' |
Kinki Nippon Tourist AgencyJapan's second-largest tourist agency was mystified when it enteredEnglish-speaking markets and began receiving requests for unusual sextours. Upon finding out why, the owners of Kinki Nippon Tourist Companychanged its name. |
LocumLocum is a Swedish company. In 1991, they sentChristmas cards toall of their customers.They thought they would give their logo alittle holiday spirit, by substituting a little heart for theletter 'o'. For some reason, they also used all lowercaseletters. The lowercase 'L' can therefore be easily misunderstood to bean 'i', and the locum logo looked like one of those 'I love ...'bumper stickers, with an unfortunate pornographic sentiment to it.Thanks to Johan Inganni (Sweden) for this entry. John Severinson writes on 2003-11-16: Locum shortly afterwards claimed 'they had no idea the ad would send sucha message but appreciates that the brand Locum is associated with loveand caring'.' |
Mazda Laputa, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Laputa (1819)Mazda's Laputa seems like an odd name for a minivan.The Mazda Laputa was introduced in Japan in 1991. Spanish speakersimmediately think of 'puta', the word for prostitute.With that in mind the ads claiming that 'Laputa isdesigned to deliver maximum utility in a minimum space while providing asmooth, comfortable ride' and 'a lightweight, impact-absorbing body' are humorous.Distributors in Santiago, Chile asked Mazda to rename the vehicle.Japanese speakers are likely unaware of this meaning and more likelyassociate 'Laputa' with a popular 1986 animated film:'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'. However, the film could not be marketed in eitherSpain or Italy because the word 'Laputa' appears onscreen and would offend. These are not the first uses of the word. 'Laputa' is referenced inGulliver's Travels, where author Jonathan Swiftwrote that the astronomers ofthe island Laputa knew about the moons of Mars and European astronomers did not.Meanwhile modern astronomers have named a real asteroid (1819) Laputa. Of course, that leaves the question of who named the asteroid... Was it a fanof Swift's fiction, one of the many that adores Hayao Miyazaki's animated film,a minivan enthusiast, or someone that just had an interesting evening out?Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks to Sokoon for this entry. |
MilkThe Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign 'Got Milk?'prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to theirattention the Spanish translation read 'Are you lactating?' |
Mitsubishi Pajero, MonteroMitsubishi had to rename its Pajero automobile becausethe word is a vulgar term for a masturbating man.This story is true, although there was no blunder involved because the carwas marketed under a different name from the beginning.In Spanish-speaking countries, this model has been sold as the Montero. |
NikeNike has a television commercial for hiking shoes that was shot inKenya using Samburu tribesmen. The camera closes in on the one tribesmanwho speaks, in native Maa. As he speaks, the Nike slogan 'Just do it'appears on the screen. Lee Cronk, an anthropologist at the University ofCincinnati, says the Kenyan is really saying, 'I don't want these. Giveme big shoes.' Says Nike's Elizabeth Dolan, 'We thought nobody inAmerica would know what he said.' (From an article in Forbes magazine.) |
Nike AirNike offended Muslims in June, 1997 when the 'flaming air' logo for its Nike Airsneakers looked too similar tothe Arabic form of God's name, 'Allah'. Nike pulled more than 38,000 pairs of sneakers from themarket. |
Nissan/Mitsubishi PacheroFor their series of landcruisers, Nissan Company invented an apparentlymeaningless word borrowed from the Spanish 'pajaro' (bird).They named it'Pachero'. This means wanker in South America.Thanks to Arne Schäpers for this submission. According to other sources,e.g. About Spanish Language (part 2)it was Mitsubishi, and the company renamed the car to Montero before marketing it in Spanish-speaking countries inLatin America. |
Nissan MocoNissan's minivan Moco doesn't do so well in Spanish-speaking markets. Especially green ones.Distributors in Santiago, Chile asked that the vehicle be renamed since Mocois the Spanish word for mucous.Thanks to Sokoon for this entry. |
Orange JuiceTo boost orange juice sales in predominantly continentalbreakfast eating England, a campaign extolled the drink'seye-opening, pick-me-up qualities with the slogan, 'Orange juice. It getsyour pecker up.'Nicholas Shearer counters'... it's a perfectly good slogan andstatement. 'keep your pecker up' is a traditional positive get-up-and-gostatement in Britain. Unlike the U.S. 'pecker', it has no other connotations(other than maybe a birds beak).So the statement is perfect for the English market...' |
Parker Pen, Parker Quink InkWhen Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposedto say 'It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you.' However,the Spanish word 'embarazar' was used by mistake to meanembarrass. The ads actually said: 'It won't leak in your pocket andmake you pregnant.'Recent versions of this story claim it was an ad for Parker's Quink Ink. |
PepsiIn Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan 'Come alive withthe Pepsi Generation' came out as 'Pepsi will bring your ancestorsback from the dead.' |
PepsodentTeeth-Whitening Toothpaste vs. Betel Nut Chewers and Teeth-Blackening Pepsodent's teeth-whitening toothpaste didn't fare well in SoutheastAsia wheremany cultures value chewing Betel Nuts which darkens the teeth. Chewing Betel Nuts is alleged tostrengthen teeth (it may have anti-bacterial qualities) and is associated with various ritualsand ceremonies (depending on the particular culture and changing over time) including thecoming of age of women.Many cultures historically blacken teeth since only savage beasts and evil demonsshow their white fangs. (Why am I thinking of some marketing folks right now...)In Japan, in the 12th century, blackening was associated with coming of age.Later in the 18th it was associated with nobility and Samurai. In the 19th century, it wasused by married woman. ('I can't tonite honey, I have to blacken my teeth.') See the articleon ThingsAsian.com by Barbara Cohen on Healthy Black Smiles. The product slogan was racially offensive to some as well- 'You'll wonder where the yellow went...' |
Perdue ChickenChicken-man Frank Perdue's slogan, 'It takes a tough man to makea tender chicken,' got terribly mangled in another Spanish translation. Aphoto of Perdue with one of his birds appeared on billboards all over Mexicowith a caption that explained 'It takes a hard man to make a chickenaroused.' |
Pope T-shirtAn American t-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish marketwhich promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired 'I saw the Pope'in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed 'I saw the Potato.'Andrew Sheh explains: Capital P 'Papa' means 'Pope'. 'papa' means potato. Finally, 'papa' withan accent on the last 'a' means father. Beardo writes: el Papa (masculine) is the Pope; la papa (feminine) is the potato. VI EL PAPA. VI LA PAPA. |
Powergenitalia, www.powergenitalia.comNo, Powergenitalia is not the company responsible for all that spam offering to helpyou with organ extensions or to invigorate you with Viagara-powered vitality.It is also not the Italian division of energy giant Powergen.When numerous English-speakers on the web took note of theweb site www.powergenitalia.com, Powergen felt obligated toannounce that they had no connection with the site and in fact had no Italian offices,so that people would not think that it was their Translation Marketing Mistake.No, they left that distinctive honor to the marketing folks at Powergen Italia,an Italian maker of battery chargers. Perhaps they were shockedto learn its a World Wide Web. The website now switches you over to the more aptly named for English-speakers,http://www.batterychargerpowergen.it.(Reported by many places including Ananova.) |
Puffs TissuesPuffs tissues allegedly had trouble in Germany due to their name being a colloquial term fora house of ill-repute (prostitution). I always say 'Gesundheit' when someone around mesneezes. I am afraid that now when I hand them a tissue, I will be thinking 'Gesundheit' means'Thank you for that blow job'.If you go to the Puffs website, theirpages are very North American-centric, being in English and French only. ThePuffs History pagementions their relatively recent (1999) expansion into Canada. Seems unlikely theytried Germany, but maybe if it was a bust they opted not to refer to it anywhere. |
Rolls Royce Silver Mist, Silver ShadowRolls Royce changed the name of its car the Silver Mist to the Silver Shadowbefore entering Germany. In German, 'Mist'means manure (to put it nicely). |
Salem CigarettesThe American slogan for Salem cigarettes, 'Salem - Feeling Free,'got translated in the Japanese market into 'When smoking Salem, youfeel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty.' |
SamarinLars Bergquist tells us:Samarin is a Swedish over-the-counter remedy for upset stomachs. (Like Alka-Seltzer.)A few years back they used ads that looked like comic strips with no text.There were three pictures. The first was a man looking sick, grasping his tummy.On the second picture he drank a glassof Samarin and on the third picture he was smiling again.The ad campaign was a success in Europe.However, when the company ran the ad in Arabic-speaking newspapers they did not do too well.I guess that they didn'tknow that in those countries people read from right to left....(See the I18nGuy page onUser Interfaces For Right-To-Left Languages.) |
Schweppes Tonic WaterIn Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the nameinto Schweppes Toilet Water. |
Toyota MR2Marcel Rigadin reports that Toyota makes the MR2, which in France is pronounced'merdé' or spelled 'merdeux', means 'crappy'.(Mentioned in Dave Taylor's Global Software.) |
Vauxhall Nova, Opel Corsa, Chevy NovaInteresting that an article inMediaGuardian.co.ukalso alleges that Vauxhall (UK for Chevrolet) tried to sellNova in Spain. Apparently this is the British version of the failed Chevrolet Nova inSpanish-speaking Latin America. |
| From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner: 'Cooles and Heates; if you want just condition of warm in your room,please control yourself.' |
| From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo: 'When passengers of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet himmelodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tootlehim with vigor.' |
| Two signs from a Majorcan shop entrance: - English well talking. - Here speeching American. |
| Sign in a Bombay hotel (where water is still routinely fetched from theGanges potentially giving you diarrhea or worse): All water has been personally passed by the management. (Thanks to Arne Schäpers for this submission.) Note for the internationally minded:The Ganges is some 600 miles from Bombay. - Tex |
If you like these signs, try this page of Odd Signs.
What Does Mean In English
Acknowledgements
David A. Ricks' book 'Big Business Blunders - Mistakes in Multinational Marketing1'(ISBN 0-256-02850-8, 1983 now out of print.)and Dave Taylor'sGlobal Software published many similar items.See Taylor's chapter online.
What Does Espanol Mean
1See instead Ricks'Blunders in International Business' (ISBN: 0631217762, 2000in its third printing.)