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In German, “Gurgel” translates to gargle (imperative singular) or throat (used colloquially, as e. g. in “grab them by the throat”). I wonder what other brands

In German, “Gurgel” translates to gargle (imperative singular) or throat (used colloquially, as e. g. in “grab them by the throat”). I wonder what other brands translate to ridiculous, non-brand-y words in other languages.

mainetti 7y ago
Gurgel was the name of the founder. João Augusto Amaral Gurgel. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Augusto_Amaral_Gurgel https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Augusto_Amaral_Gurge...
rmellow 7y ago
The Chevrolet "Nova" has a different name in Latin countries. In Spanish "No va" means "not going", obviously something you don't want from a car. The Mitsubishi "Pajero" is called "Montero" in Spanish speaking countries. Again in Spanish, "Pajero" means "wanker".
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- edjrage 7y ago
  > in Latin countries If you mean “in Spanish-speaking countries”, alright. In Portuguese “nova” just means “new”, just as French's “nouveau” or Italian's “nuova”.
  - bromuro 7y ago
    The joke still work - maybe not in french tho. In lot of languages variations (like dialects) “nova” can be heard or played as “it does not work”.
    - jcranmer 7y ago
      > In lot of languages variations (like dialects) “nova” can be heard or played as “it does not work”. I'm skeptical of that. "go" isn't really idiomatic for "work" in English, and in Romance languages, you're going to use the local variant of "marcher" (literally "to walk") or "to function" to refer to technology working, so I suspect using the literal translation of "to go" is going to be a very strained idiomatic relationship at best.
- jcranmer 7y ago
  > The Chevrolet "Nova" has a different name in Latin countries. In Spanish "No va" means "not going", obviously something you don't want from a car. Urban legend: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis...
- jaclaz 7y ago
  > The Chevrolet "Nova" has a different name in Latin countries. In Spanish "No va" means "not going", obviously something you don't want from a car. Naah, that is a myth that has been debunked some 20 years ago: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis... It is curious how it still surfaces from time to time. The Pajero is instead a known "brand blunder": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_blunder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_blunder
gorhill 7y ago
Audi e-Tron: > The name e-tron is very similar to the French word étron (meaning turd), causing some ridicule of the e-Tron in France [...] [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_e-tron_(2018)#Marketing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_e-tron_(2018)#Marketing
- amyjess 7y ago
  On a similar note, Toyota had a performance division called Toyota Racing Development, called TRD for short. In Australia, they even turned it into a full-blown marque for a few years, so it was actually possible to buy a TRD Aurion or TRD Hilux. And, yes, fans of their competitors did indeed call them TuRDs.
klingonopera 7y ago
The Ford "Probe" didn't sell all too well in Germany, because "Probe" means "trial" in German (and also "sample").
- rebuilder 7y ago
  Also, unfortunate associations with little green men and the probes they purportedly... well, you know.
- avian 7y ago
  Ford especially seems unfortunate with their model names. Another example is Ford "Kuga". The word literally means "Plague" in many Slavic languages.
forinti 7y ago
Chana motors changed their name to Changan in Brazil as Chana is slang for women's private parts.
yesbabyyes 7y ago
The Honda Fit, or Honda Jazz in Europe, is a small car with a roomy interior. Honda was quite close to marketing it as Honda Fitta, before realizing that in Scandinavian languages, that's a vulgar word for ladies' private parts. Together with the marketing slogan "Small on the outside, big on the inside", it would have been particularly hilarious. Btw, Gurgel translates to gargle in Swedish, too.
yread 7y ago
"ŠKODA" in Czech means pity (as in "you bought a ŠKODA? Oh, that's a pity"), damage or harm. Didn't stop it from selling pretty well.
kinow 7y ago
RaboBank, here in New Zealand, translates to something not really nice in Brazilian Portuguese (rabo means tail, but is common slang for ass/arse). Bunda, jewel store in Australia, literally means butt in Brazilian Portuguese (not slang). Not really a brand I think, but the Tintin character also means male genitalia in Japanese. (it's also common in Brazil to toast with drinks saying "tintin / chin chin" because of the sound that glasses make, which gets a few jokes among the Brazilian-Japanese community.)
amyjess 7y ago
The Citroën Evasion had to be renamed Synergie for the UK market, because while in French évasion means "escapism", in English it brings connotations of tax evasion. Citroën had this problem a lot with their vans: they also have a commercial van called the Jumpy, which obviously isn't something you want to say about any vehicle, so it was changed to Dispatch for the UK. And they have a larger van called the Jumper, which was changed to Boxer, probably because "Jumper" also carries criminal connotations in English (bail jumper, stile jumper, etc.).
- amyjess 7y ago
  The Toyota MR2 had difficulty selling in France because MR2 is pronounced a lot like merde, which means "shit".
beagle3 7y ago
The brand name for Kia motor cars in Israel are pronounced "ka-ya" rather than "ki-ya" (and promoted that way by the importer/distributor), because the latter sounds too close to the word used for "barf" and especially the way kids often say it. The name of Microsoft's iPod competitor "Zune" is pronounced the same as the modern hebrew noun for "fuck"/"copulation", which is especially fitting given that you were able to "squirt" songs.

mainetti 7y ago

Gurgel was the name of the founder. João Augusto Amaral Gurgel. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Augusto_Amaral_Gurgel https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Augusto_Amaral_Gurge...

rmellow 7y ago

The Chevrolet "Nova" has a different name in Latin countries. In Spanish "No va" means "not going", obviously something you don't want from a car. The Mitsubishi "Pajero" is called "Montero" in Spanish speaking countries. Again in Spanish, "Pajero" means "wanker".

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
edjrage 7y ago
> in Latin countries If you mean “in Spanish-speaking countries”, alright. In Portuguese “nova” just means “new”, just as French's “nouveau” or Italian's “nuova”.
- bromuro 7y ago
  The joke still work - maybe not in french tho. In lot of languages variations (like dialects) “nova” can be heard or played as “it does not work”.
  - jcranmer 7y ago
    > In lot of languages variations (like dialects) “nova” can be heard or played as “it does not work”. I'm skeptical of that. "go" isn't really idiomatic for "work" in English, and in Romance languages, you're going to use the local variant of "marcher" (literally "to walk") or "to function" to refer to technology working, so I suspect using the literal translation of "to go" is going to be a very strained idiomatic relationship at best.
jcranmer 7y ago
> The Chevrolet "Nova" has a different name in Latin countries. In Spanish "No va" means "not going", obviously something you don't want from a car. Urban legend: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis...
jaclaz 7y ago
> The Chevrolet "Nova" has a different name in Latin countries. In Spanish "No va" means "not going", obviously something you don't want from a car. Naah, that is a myth that has been debunked some 20 years ago: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis... It is curious how it still surfaces from time to time. The Pajero is instead a known "brand blunder": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_blunder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_blunder

gorhill 7y ago

Audi e-Tron: > The name e-tron is very similar to the French word étron (meaning turd), causing some ridicule of the e-Tron in France [...] [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_e-tron_(2018)#Marketing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_e-tron_(2018)#Marketing

amyjess 7y ago
On a similar note, Toyota had a performance division called Toyota Racing Development, called TRD for short. In Australia, they even turned it into a full-blown marque for a few years, so it was actually possible to buy a TRD Aurion or TRD Hilux. And, yes, fans of their competitors did indeed call them TuRDs.

klingonopera 7y ago

The Ford "Probe" didn't sell all too well in Germany, because "Probe" means "trial" in German (and also "sample").

rebuilder 7y ago
Also, unfortunate associations with little green men and the probes they purportedly... well, you know.
avian 7y ago
Ford especially seems unfortunate with their model names. Another example is Ford "Kuga". The word literally means "Plague" in many Slavic languages.

forinti 7y ago

Chana motors changed their name to Changan in Brazil as Chana is slang for women's private parts.

yesbabyyes 7y ago

The Honda Fit, or Honda Jazz in Europe, is a small car with a roomy interior. Honda was quite close to marketing it as Honda Fitta, before realizing that in Scandinavian languages, that's a vulgar word for ladies' private parts. Together with the marketing slogan "Small on the outside, big on the inside", it would have been particularly hilarious. Btw, Gurgel translates to gargle in Swedish, too.

yread 7y ago

"ŠKODA" in Czech means pity (as in "you bought a ŠKODA? Oh, that's a pity"), damage or harm. Didn't stop it from selling pretty well.

kinow 7y ago

RaboBank, here in New Zealand, translates to something not really nice in Brazilian Portuguese (rabo means tail, but is common slang for ass/arse). Bunda, jewel store in Australia, literally means butt in Brazilian Portuguese (not slang). Not really a brand I think, but the Tintin character also means male genitalia in Japanese. (it's also common in Brazil to toast with drinks saying "tintin / chin chin" because of the sound that glasses make, which gets a few jokes among the Brazilian-Japanese community.)

amyjess 7y ago

The Citroën Evasion had to be renamed Synergie for the UK market, because while in French évasion means "escapism", in English it brings connotations of tax evasion. Citroën had this problem a lot with their vans: they also have a commercial van called the Jumpy, which obviously isn't something you want to say about any vehicle, so it was changed to Dispatch for the UK. And they have a larger van called the Jumper, which was changed to Boxer, probably because "Jumper" also carries criminal connotations in English (bail jumper, stile jumper, etc.).

amyjess 7y ago
The Toyota MR2 had difficulty selling in France because MR2 is pronounced a lot like merde, which means "shit".

beagle3 7y ago

The brand name for Kia motor cars in Israel are pronounced "ka-ya" rather than "ki-ya" (and promoted that way by the importer/distributor), because the latter sounds too close to the word used for "barf" and especially the way kids often say it. The name of Microsoft's iPod competitor "Zune" is pronounced the same as the modern hebrew noun for "fuck"/"copulation", which is especially fitting given that you were able to "squirt" songs.