Best...product name...ever

Well here in HK, birth place of the infamous Darkie toothpaste, we now have . . … drum roll …

Local company, says it will reconsider the name if they get too many complaints.

None from me!

HG

Nope, you’re both wrong. The best named product in Taiwan was ‘Spunk’ soda. It came in a can. Can’t get it any more.

[quote=“Buttercup”]Nope, you’re both wrong. The best named product in Taiwan was ‘Spunk’ soda. It came in a can.[/quote]Who did ?

“Came in a can” or “cum in a can”?

Damn, that pesky BFM got in there before me. Now I just look… smelly.

“Came in a can” or “cum in a can”?[/quote]Too slow as usual… I made that joke 2 minutes ago, sorry…

I have to feed you the lines.

No product name could ever top “Nova” (Chevy car). They sold it under this name in Latin America. “No va”, for those of you who don’t speak Spanish, means roughly “it doesn’t run”.

Erm, well, not exactly…

http://snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp

Cigarettes: Long Life, Long Life Lights, Long Life Ultra Light

A.S.S.
Accredited Service Station

Re: Lonely God Chips
I think they should make a spicy flavor and call it Angry God.

Erm, well, not exactly…

http://snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp[/quote]

I completely disagree with the assessment in that link. The idea that it didn’t sell well is urban legend, but it’s a plain fact that the name was laughed at by locals. I know – I lived there at the time it was sold in Mexico, and remember joking about it with my scoutmates. The author absurdly claims that because the words Nova and “no va” have different stress, the issue is minor and the association won’t occur to native Spanish speakers. That’s just silly. If you sold a product under the name ‘LowSee’, would no one think ‘lousy’? Many puns are based on a slightly different pronunciation or word stress. A Pontiac 2000SUX would be pronounced ess you ex but that doesn’t mean it’s not a bad name! :loco: The example of “notable” which the author gives is incredibly lame, too.

The only valid claim in that link is that the story about it being a marketing failure is false.

The snopes article was pretty Lau-see. The only thing that it shot down was the Nova being changed to Caribe because VW made the Caribe (if true). But that is tangential to the No Va / Nova.

To me, it’s a no-go, a non-starter, a deal-braker if you will.

Erm, well, not exactly…

http://snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp[/quote]

I completely disagree with the assessment in that link. The idea that it didn’t sell well is urban legend, but it’s a plain fact that the name was laughed at by locals. I know – I lived there at the time it was sold in Mexico, and remember joking about it with my scoutmates. The author absurdly claims that because the words Nova and “no va” have different stress, the issue is minor and the association won’t occur to native Spanish speakers. That’s just silly. If you sold a product under the name ‘LowSee’, would no one think ‘lousy’? Many puns are based on a slightly different pronunciation or word stress. A Pontiac 2000SUX would be pronounced ess you ex but that doesn’t mean it’s not a bad name! :loco: The example of “notable” which the author gives is incredibly lame, too.

The only valid claim in that link is that the story about it being a marketing failure is false.[/quote]

Good stuff, Dragonbones. This is one of the reasons I love Forumosa. Until today I had (1) never read the initial “debunking” of the story that Chief provided, or (2) heard from anyone who actually had first hand knowledge of it.

The other part of the Snopes article that makes sense to me, though, is that GM must have known about the name issue well before the car actually went on the market. It couldn’t have been something that only occurred to them afterwords. It’s just too hard to believe (assuming the name sounds as funny to a native Spanish speaker as you say) that none of GM’s distributors in Mexico or elsewhere would have made the point well before the cars were ever shipped. (“You expect me to sell that!? Forget it. What else you got?”)

H

I just read a thread about Chinese that says that even if something is slightly different, it is rendered meaningless. So while “No va” may mean something in Spanish, “Nova” is meaningless because it’s a different tone.

[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”]I just read a thread about Chinese that says that even if something is slightly different, it is rendered meaningless. So while “No va” may mean something in Spanish, “Nova” is meaningless because it’s a different tone.[/quote] Actually, you would be wrong, because you would go back to the original Latin where it does have meaning, so who renders what first?

C’mon, if we are talking cars and South America, nothing but nothing beats the Pajero, or wanker, which prompted an urgent rebranding to Montero.

HG

The question of whether or not Nova will be laughed at by some Spanish speakers can be viewed as an empirical one. Set your Google preferences for Spanish, search for “Nova no va”, and you’ll have hours of reading pleasure. In case anyone doubts my word for it, here are some examples I’ve gleaned for you. The urban myth of having to change the product name (if it is a myth, that is) is repeated in many of the Spanish pages, while some posters comment on the mythical status, but the fact remains that there are many examples of native Spanish speaking webbers commenting on the unfortunate nature of this name:

[quote]Nombres desafortunados …

Recuerdas el Chevy Nova? (No-va), o el Mazda Laputa :s, y claro, no faltó quién hiciera una broma al respecto.[/quote] Source

:laughing: They also mention Laputa; I can’t let this one go without comment. Wiki: “The Mazda Laputa was a clone of the aptly-named Suzuki Kei. …The car’s name derivates from the book Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift [1]. However, this car is unlikely to sell well in the Spanish-speaking world unless renamed” :roflmao: (FYI, puta means slut, and La Puta would be “the slut”.)

God, I wanna buy a Mazda Slut! :laughing:

What about Mitsubishi Pajero (4WD, named Montero in the US or Shogun in the UK)?

I was told pajero means “masturbating” in Spanish, but then someone that spoke Spanish told me it doesn’t. Was he right?

They’ve got these cookies at my supermarket called “D’asses”. I tried to get a box today to take a photo of, but they were sold out.