4 ms·

Nova failing in Latin America is a bit of a myth, though a good apocryphal story to get the point across. http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp http:

Nova failing in Latin America is a bit of a myth, though a good apocryphal story to get the point across. http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp

icebraining 11y ago
That story always sounded off. I have to admit I mostly listen to European Spanish, but "Nova" doesn't really read like "no va", the intonation is very different.
- mahouse 11y ago
  No it is not. The only difference is which syllable is stressed.
  - icebraining 11y ago
    And the pause between them. In a four letter word, I'd say that's quite different. Would you have read it as "no va"?
    - mahouse 11y ago
      There's no pause between both syllables in either way of pronouncing the word. And you are right, it's not pronounced the same way, but if you intend to mock the car, you just stress the other syllable.
      - notlefthanded 11y ago
        Stresses are pretty important in spanish. Take father/pope and potato; viva la paPA has a pretty different meaning from viva la PApa
- SilasX 11y ago
  What if someone said: "In English, 'experts exchange' sounds noticeably different from 'expert sexchange'; therefore, no one would ridicule expertsexchange.com for its similarity to the latter."
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Yeah, but the story wasn't that "someone" mocked the name, it was that the car was a commercial failure because of it. As far as I know, EE had at least quite a few years of success despite the name.
    - SilasX 11y ago
      The snopes debunking of Nova/no-va insists that native Spanish speakers wouldn't automatically see the similarity and irony between the words. They did, just as English speakers did for EE. Though they both may have sold well in spite of the meaningful names.
      - icebraining 11y ago
        Well, as I wrote earlier, as someone who has been fluently reading and listening to Spanish conversation, TV, magazines and books since childhood, I find it hard to believe that any significant number of Spanish speakers would automatically read the irony.
        SilasX 11y ago
        In case you're still reading this: do you mean to say the Spanish speaking world is less interested in wordplay and prone to notice such puns?

icebraining 11y ago

That story always sounded off. I have to admit I mostly listen to European Spanish, but "Nova" doesn't really read like "no va", the intonation is very different.

mahouse 11y ago
No it is not. The only difference is which syllable is stressed.
- icebraining 11y ago
  And the pause between them. In a four letter word, I'd say that's quite different. Would you have read it as "no va"?
  - mahouse 11y ago
    There's no pause between both syllables in either way of pronouncing the word. And you are right, it's not pronounced the same way, but if you intend to mock the car, you just stress the other syllable.
    - notlefthanded 11y ago
      Stresses are pretty important in spanish. Take father/pope and potato; viva la paPA has a pretty different meaning from viva la PApa
SilasX 11y ago
What if someone said: "In English, 'experts exchange' sounds noticeably different from 'expert sexchange'; therefore, no one would ridicule expertsexchange.com for its similarity to the latter."
- icebraining 11y ago
  Yeah, but the story wasn't that "someone" mocked the name, it was that the car was a commercial failure because of it. As far as I know, EE had at least quite a few years of success despite the name.
  - SilasX 11y ago
    The snopes debunking of Nova/no-va insists that native Spanish speakers wouldn't automatically see the similarity and irony between the words. They did, just as English speakers did for EE. Though they both may have sold well in spite of the meaningful names.
    - icebraining 11y ago
      Well, as I wrote earlier, as someone who has been fluently reading and listening to Spanish conversation, TV, magazines and books since childhood, I find it hard to believe that any significant number of Spanish speakers would automatically read the irony.
      - SilasX 11y ago
        In case you're still reading this: do you mean to say the Spanish speaking world is less interested in wordplay and prone to notice such puns?