29 Jun
2009
29 Jun
'09
3:39 p.m.
Message: 25
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:08:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Griffith <dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu>
On Mon, 29 Jun 2009, Marvin Johnston wrote:
Anyone remember the eBay marketing promotion, "Do It eBay"? I still love it
... Do It eBay, short for DIE!
Some years ago a shoe company came out with a shoe they named "The
Incubus". Said shoes were in the stores before management realized what
an incubus is. Now for something more modern, have any of you noticed the
rash of suggestive fast food adverts?
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
---------------Reply:
And of course there was a small problem with Commodore's VIC 20 in Germany
which led to its being renamed the "VC20 VolksComputer".
(hint: the V is pronounced F in German, and they use an 'I' where we use a
'U')
> Happens more often than you'd think. ?Long
ago, a friend decided to
> call his company "Tripas" (a variant spelling of "Tri-pass").
?After
> the corporate name had been registered, the janitorial crew informed
> him that they thought it was funny--apparently it's Spanish ?for
> entriails ?(tripe).
Up here in Canada, the Reform party briefly renamed itself the
"Conservative Reform Alliance" Party: CRAP
That lasted all of two days, IIRC. 
30 Jun
30 Jun
8:10 a.m.
On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:39:29 -0400
M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote:
Some years ago a shoe company came out with a shoe
they named "The
Incubus". Said shoes were in the stores before management realized
what an incubus is.
My all time favorit: Mitsubishi Pajero.
They soled that car under this name in parts of the world where spanish
is spoken. Not noticing that "pajero" in spanish means "wanker". They
where surprised that the car didn't sell well. When they noticed the
mistake they renamed the car to Montero.
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
9:08 a.m.
On Tue, 2009-06-30 at 17:10 +0200, Jochen Kunz wrote:
On Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:39:29 -0400
M H Stein <dm561 at torfree.net> wrote:
See, I know someone for whom that was one of the selling points...
Gordon
Some years ago a shoe company came out with a
shoe they named "The
Incubus". Said shoes were in the stores before management realized
what an incubus is.
My all time favorit: Mitsubishi Pajero.
They soled that car under this name in parts of the world where spanish
is spoken. Not noticing that "pajero" in spanish means "wanker".
They
where surprised that the car didn't sell well. When they noticed the
mistake they renamed the car to Montero. 
12:15 p.m.
How well did Nova (No Va) sell in Spanish speaking countries? IIRC, GM
had some difficulty with their "Nova"
1:14 p.m.
How well did Nova (No Va) sell in Spanish speaking countries? IIRC, GM
had some difficulty with their "Nova"
Some years ago I rescued most of a DG Nova 1210 from a skip (dumpster).
'Most' meaning the rack-mount chassis, CPU board, core memory board and a
special interface board. Alas it was (and still is) missing the cooling fan
(no problem) and the lights-and-switches board (big problem...)
When I got it, I sent a message to some of my classic-computer-loving
freinds with the subject; 'Nova -- it doesn't go' and went on to expalin
the urban legend and why it was true in this particular case.
-tony
1:31 p.m.
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009, Fred Cisin wrote:
How well did Nova (No Va) sell in Spanish speaking
countries? IIRC, GM
had some difficulty with their "Nova"
The "no va" connection is false. The single word "nova" means
"new" in
Latin and Portuguese. It's somewhat a valid word in Spanish even though
the proper word is "nueva". Mind your genders.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
11:26 p.m.
The use of NOVA as 'no va' is not so evident. But for my experience, is the
class of word used with double sense when the device begin to fail :-)
However, the 'pajero' name for the Mitsubishi is mythical, at least from my
perception here in my country. I even think that I didn't see announces in
TV, radio, and so.
But one of the most funny examples of a recent book that we will NEVER see
published in spanish (at least with the complete name of the author) is
this:
'Programming Java 2 Micro Edition on Symbian OS, by Martin de Jode'
There are sufficient people in this list managing a little Spanish to know
what I mean. And I recommend to use a traductor as google to check it
because the result is VERY explicit.
Sergio
2009/6/30 Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com>
How well did Nova (No Va) sell in Spanish speaking
countries? IIRC, GM
had some difficulty with their "Nova"
1 Jul
1 Jul
12:44 a.m.
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 08:26:04 +0200
SPC <spedraja at ono.com> wrote:
Martin de Jode
In Germany the family name
"Fickeisen" isn't that uncommon.
(Fick should be obvious and Eisen means iron.)
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
7:56 p.m.
In Germany the
family name "Fickeisen" isn't that uncommon.
(Fick should be obvious and Eisen means iron.)
How did *that* name come about?
3 Jul
3 Jul
12:40 a.m.
On Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:24:21 -0400
Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com> wrote:
[German name Fickeisen]
How did *that* name come about?
The german (well
indogerman, so englich too) word "ficken" in its
original sense means "moving forward and backward" or to grind, rub,
sweep, brush. So a "Fickeisen" would be a tool made of iron like a file.
If you can read German: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficken
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
2 Jul
2 Jul
3:46 p.m.
New subject: OT Names was Re: chiclassiccomp.org was Re: Mysterious website
Rumor has it that Jochen Kunz may have mentioned these words:
On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 08:26:04 +0200
SPC <spedraja at ono.com> wrote:
In my neck of the woods, souvenir stores are called "fudgie shops" as many
of them started out as & prominently feature handmade fudge. (and yes,
tourists are called "fudgies" as well; i.e. people who come & tour all the
fudgie shops.)
We have one called "Das Gift Haus" - perfectly good German for:
The Poison House.
I asked once if they kept arsenic in stock, the onshift salesmonkey
(usually current or former [read: dropout] college students) just looked at
me funny, even after I explained the translated meaning of the name of the
establishment. Must've been one of the dropouts. ;-)
Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers
zmerch at 30below.com
Hi! I am a .signature virus. Copy me into your .signature to join in!
Martin de Jode
In Germany the family name
"Fickeisen" isn't that uncommon.
(Fick should be obvious and Eisen means iron.) 
30 Jun
30 Jun
6:39 p.m.
New subject: OT Names
Jochen Kunz wrote:
My all time favorit: Mitsubishi Pajero.
They soled that car under this name in parts of the world where spanish
is spoken. Not noticing that "pajero" in spanish means "wanker".
They
where surprised that the car didn't sell well. When they noticed the
mistake they renamed the car to Montero.
Excellent. The Chevy Nova had similar problems in Mexico. Finally,
someone noticed that that translated as Chevrolet doesn't go.
Now we have the Nova awards, for bad translations in advertisements.
I'm a language buff, and I truly love them. They are usually English
---> Spanish translations, because many people THINK they know simple
Spanish, but have no idea of actual usage. For example, anyone in the
U.S. will recognize the "Got Milk" posters, usually with a famous person
with milk on their upper lip, advertising drinking milk. Somebody
wanted to set this up in Mexico, and translated the phrase as "?Tienes
leche?" Makes perfect high-school Spanish sense. However, that phrase
actually translates as "Are you lactating?" Awkward.
Warren
1 Jul
1 Jul
1:44 a.m.
New subject: OT Names
On 1 Jul 2009, at 02:39, Warren Wolfe wrote:
Jochen Kunz wrote:
To continue the Automotive theme..
Mitsubishi Starion was reputedly supposed to be called the Stallion but
the marketing dept in Japan had told the Australians marketing dept by
phone. By the time the mistake was noticed in Japan it was too late
and so the name was kept!
Also the Toyota MR2 sports car when pronounced in french sounds very
much like Toyota Merde (Toyota sh1t)
Roger
My all time favorit: Mitsubishi Pajero.
They soled that car under this name in parts of the world where
spanish
is spoken. Not noticing that "pajero" in spanish means "wanker".
They
where surprised that the car didn't sell well. When they noticed the
mistake they renamed the car to Montero.
Excellent. The Chevy Nova had similar problems in Mexico. Finally,
someone noticed that that translated as Chevrolet doesn't go.
Now we have the Nova awards, for bad translations in advertisements.
I'm a language buff, and I truly love them. They are usually English
---> Spanish translations, because many people THINK they know simple
Spanish, but have no idea of actual usage. For example, anyone in the
U.S. will recognize the "Got Milk" posters, usually with a famous
person with milk on their upper lip, advertising drinking milk.
Somebody wanted to set this up in Mexico, and translated the phrase as
"?Tienes leche?" Makes perfect high-school Spanish sense. However,
that phrase actually translates as "Are you lactating?" Awkward.
1:57 a.m.
New subject: OT Names
> Jochen Kunz wrote:
>> > To continue the Automotive theme..
Surnames can also be very appropriate.
When I did my national service, I was stationed in an Air Force squadron
doing artillery observations etc.
The boss observer had a very inappropriate name : BLIND.
So much for the accuracy of the observations....
Nico
6:35 a.m.
New subject: OT Names
Surnames can also be very appropriate.
When I did my national service, I was stationed in an Air Force squadron
doing artillery observations etc.
The boss observer had a very inappropriate name : BLIND.
So much for the accuracy of the observations....
On the flip side, and slightly more on topic, I used
to work with a programmer named Hacker. And
when we were looking for names for our daughter,
one of the books of baby names had a discussion
of names that seemed to foretell the person's profession.
My favorite was the gynocologist named Dr. Zoltan
Ovary.
BLS
2:26 a.m.
New subject: OT Names
On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Roger Pugh <rogpugh at mac.com> wrote:
To continue the Automotive theme..
Mitsubishi Starion was reputedly supposed to be called the Stallion but the
marketing dept in Japan had told the Australians marketing dept by phone.
By the time the mistake was noticed in Japan it was too late and so the
name was kept!
Also the Toyota MR2 sports car when pronounced in french sounds very much
like Toyota Merde (Toyota sh1t)
Slightly more on-topic is arcade game names - Pacman was originally called
Puckman but the designers were concerned about the inevitable cabinet
vandalism to swearify the name. Donkey Kong should of course been called
Monkey Kong but that got lost in the translation, as did Continental Circus
which should've been Continental Circuit :)
--
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
5650
days inactive
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days old
19 comments
16 participants
participants (16)
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alexandre-listas＠e-secure.com.br -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
binarydinosaurs＠gmail.com -
blstuart＠bellsouth.net -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu -
dm561＠torfree.net -
gordonjcp＠gjcp.net -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
lists＠databasics.us -
nico＠farumdata.dk -
ploopster＠gmail.com -
rogpugh＠mac.com -
spectre＠floodgap.com -
spedraja＠ono.com -
zmerch-cctalk＠30below.com