hobbes4star 0 #1 September 21, 2005 Translating U.S. ad slogans into other languages doesn't always work... In China, a Coca-Cola ad used Chinese symbols to sound out "Coca-Cola" phonetically. The soda company withdrew the ad after learning the symbols "Co" "Ca" "Co" "La" meant "Bite the wax tadpole." In Brazil, an American airline advertised that its planes had "rendezvous" lounges, not realizing that in Portuguese "rendezvous" means a place to have sex. According to a book called The Want Makers, "In Taiwan, Pepsi's 'Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation' was reportedly translated on billboards as 'Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead.'" In French Canada, Hunt-Wesson attempted to use its "Big John" brand name by translating it into French as "Gros Jos," a colloquial French phrase that denotes a woman with huge breasts. When General Motors introduced the Chevrolet Nova in Latin America, it was obvious they didn't know their Spanish. Ads all across Latin America heralded the arrival of the new, reliable Nova, which in Spanish means "Doesn't go." [From Uncle John's 4-Ply Bathroom Reader]if fun were easy it wouldn't be worth having, right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prepheckt 0 #2 September 21, 2005 Snopes.com debunked most of those. Chevy Nova: http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp Coca-Cola: http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tadpole.asp Might be true: http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/ancestor.asp"Dancing Argentine Tango is like doing calculus with your feet." -9 toes Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
