7 ms·

I think this is a great idea for people for people wanting to respect other's sensitivity. However, I also think that it is even more important for people to r

• arkitaip 6y ago
  The corporation that just invested in a 100M global re-branding will for sure want to make sure their branding isn't obviously offensive in a certain market. It's a basic service that branding agencies offer. This could be an useful tool for those efforts.
• balladeer 6y ago
  Since you mentioned Sweden Sweden's Lund University admin snaps after being trolled by Indians on Facebook - https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/swedens-lund-university-admin-snaps-after-being-trolled-by-indians-on-facebook https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/swedens-lund-universit...
  • StavrosK 6y ago
    I wasn't aware of the meaning of "snaps" as "asks people politely to refrain from harassment".
    • balladeer 6y ago
      So an admin at a university (probably a person who should be sensitive to PR) should have said "You #$&*^$ #^#%&%$#$@, stop doing this already!" to make it look like a true "snap"?
      • StavrosK 6y ago
        Yes, he'd have to do something very uncharacteristic of the position, otherwise it's an entirely appropriate and reasonable reaction, which isn't really what one would characterize a "snap".
        • balladeer 6y ago
          I think I am coming from the perspective that incessant trolling forced them to issue an official response and that's "snap enough" for me. You seem to be coming from the point of view (that's my assumption based on our short comments; it maybe something else) that it doesn't meet the literal dictionary meaning so it's not a snap - which I disagree with. I think that's all to it.
          • StavrosK 6y ago
            Possibly, I think "snap" is there purely for clickbait reasons, to imply a much larger reaction so we click through. "Responds" would have been more accurate, though not as converty.
          • Falling3 6y ago
            It's not only that it doesn't mean the dictionary definition. There's no usage - colloquial or otherwise - of that term I'm familiar that fits the situation. It's disingenuous at best to refer to the response as "snapping".
• nucleardog 6y ago
  The name is going to be the first thing many people see, well before finding out the name has roots in another language or culture. We can talk about how people should act, but the simple fact is a Swedish developer releasing SkrappostSlut or a Chinese developer releasing NiggaApp are probably not going to get a lot of traction in English markets and I’d expect similar issues the other direction. If those markets are important to your business, it’s probably wise to at least be aware of these sorts of issues.
  • ThrowawayR2 6y ago
    A real-world example would be the Japanese university that changed the official English translation of its name to Kindai University; it's original name, using a direct transliteration, was Kinki University which apparently caused awkwardness. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/01/national/japans-kinki-university-changes-name-silence-jokes/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/01/national/japans...
    • mci 6y ago
      There is also the Bonerowski Palace hotel in Krakow, formerly known as the Boner Palace.
    • rapnie 6y ago
      Mitsubishu Pajero --> means Wanker in Spanish.
    • riidom 6y ago
      wix.com reads as jerkoff.com in german
  • vishnugupta 6y ago
    Skoda Laura, a premium sedan was launched a decade or so ago in India. It was too late for the geniuses to learn that “laura” means dick in Hindi, a widely spoken language in northern parts of India.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
• pyuser583 6y ago
  So “SlutFan” might not be the best name for a company?
  • dylan604 6y ago
    depends on which TLD it is registered.
    • labster 6y ago
      .xxx, presumably.
    • RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
      .church It means "StopTheDevil"
      • TazeTSchnitzel 6y ago
        It doesn't.
    • Godel_unicode 6y ago
      The two replies to this comment are the entire problem, in a nutshell.
• kranner 6y ago
  But a lot of these names seem to be manufactured words that are intended to sound foreign and exotic, and thus cool. For instance, Herman Miller has just introduced the "Motia" Gaming Desk [1]. They don't offer an explanation for what "Motia" means, and I can't seem to Google/DDG the meaning, because search results in my location are overwhelmed by the colloquial meaning of "motia" in Hindi and Urdu. That meaning is "cataract", an unfortunate name for a gaming desk that goes out of its way to reduce eye strain by sporting a matte, anti-glare finish. [1] https://store.hermanmiller.com/gaming/motia-gaming-desk/2520995.html?lang=en_US https://store.hermanmiller.com/gaming/motia-gaming-desk/2520...
  • fsakura 6y ago
    Moti = Pearl in Hindi/Urdu I think that's why it is used in cataract where eyes look like pearls. So the meaning depends on which context you used the word in.
• rewq4321 6y ago
  > it is even more important for people to respect other languages/cultures by not attributing their own independent negative connotations. Is that what you really care about here? It sounds like feigned concern over a non-issue so you can throw shade on the product that doesn't align with your politics. > an English speaker shouldn't get offended by a Swede using "slut" (Swedish root for stop/end). No one has claimed otherwise. If a product is designed for international usage, the company should think about what is implied by the name of the company in minds of their potential customers.
  • bryanrasmussen 6y ago
    In 2017 the Danish company Dong changed it's name to Ørsted https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98rsted_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98rsted_(company) no idea why (although article says they changed "citing that DONG was inappropriate considering they had no oil and natural gas assets under ownership any more"), but I had noticed some stuff on BoingBoing just before making fun of the name.
    • Dahoon 6y ago
      But using a letter hardly anyone outside Denmark knows is even worse. There's a good reason Mærsk isnt called Mærsk anymore.
      • poizan42 6y ago
        Given that most Danes below the age of 50 are effectively bilingual they were also made fun of here in Denmark. Also "dong" in danish is ofc. onomatopoeia for the sound that a large bell or gong makes when struck, which in itself was a bit silly even without the english meaning.
    • maartenscholl 6y ago
      The same company issued a long maturity (1000-year) bond, which on the trading floor became known as the Ultra Long Dong, and broke many many trading applications that used 64 bit nanosecond timestamps.
• bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  When I started learning web development I was told the possibly apocryphal story that Lego had one of the first websites, and they were of course tracking visitors, but they couldn't figure out why they didn't have any kids visiting from the U.S, as it turned out this was because at the end of every page they had the word "Slut" (the end) and American parents of course had bad language filters on their kids computers.
• wyattpeak 6y ago
  I'm sure it happens, but I don't usually hear names with unfortunate meanings discussed in terms of offence or respect, but much more practical concerns: inability to get the culture to take the name seriously, inability to register a business, that sort of thing. I'm not going to get strident at a Swedish company trying to launch a product called "slut", but at the same time I'm going to have trouble taking it seriously, and I'm probably not going to recommend it to anyone.
  • OJFord 6y ago
    So if a Swedish company creates a revolutionary pesticide called 'BugSlut', you'll have no qualms recommending it to your green-fingered elderly relatives?
    • solstice 6y ago
      Just put an ü or ø in there somewhere. Problem solved. /s
    • wyattpeak 6y ago
      I think you may have misinterpreted my comment, I said the opposite of that.
      • OJFord 6y ago
        Ah sorry, I'd meant to reply to the same comment you did, making the same point really.
• mnsc 6y ago
  This seem like a strawman. It's not about "snowflakes" getting offended. Everyone understands that words have different meanings in different languages. So if I read "you need to get fitta'" in an english gym ad I just giggle and don't get offended like "hrmph, is this gym implying that I don't get laid!". But, when I'm in the process of buying a car, that giggle might turn into a "I'll just buy another car then". Specifically thinking about Honda Fitta. (Use the site to check what that word means in my native language)
  • rewq4321 6y ago
    Amazing that you're down-voted to -3 for expressing your opinion as a consumer. And it's kind of funny that people here are complaining about companies doing a thing which make perfect sense even from a purely financial perspective. Why choose a name that means something gross/weird/derogatory in the language of your consumers? Just bad for business. I think HN has a subset of people who swarm to these sorts of threads and rage-downvote based on some sort of unusual meme (in the original sense of the word) that's spreading through their community.
    • IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago
      It is, surprisingly, absolut dogma on HN that, speaking only mildy hyperbolic, "ANTIFA snowflakes cancelling conservative free speech" is the single most salient danger these days. The only reliable method to get to -4 faster is to somehow, obliquely, imply that there is a remote possibility that the concept commonly labeled 'sexism' might actually exist.
• lrem 6y ago
  Now, think about search. I know a guy who named his company using his last name and after 20-odd years got told by some customers that searching for it yields dick pics. He suspected a googlebomb... But no, it just happens that his name is a slang word for a penis in some Asian language.
• alkyon 6y ago
  The point of it is rather different. Classic example: Osram which roughly translates into "I will cover in shit" in Polish
  • deno 6y ago
    And hugely successful in Poland despite and maybe even because of the name.
    • pawelmi 6y ago
      I think we became immunized and stopped noticing it in this context after product being so many years on shelves. Just like you stop noticing your nose in sight. Though such a threat from a lightbulb sounds scary :)
• elboru 6y ago
  I don’t think the problem is people getting offended. But sometimes a name can sound funny and it will be difficult for people taking it seriously. For example WebOS in Spanish sounds like “huevos” (eggs) and huevos it’s another way to say testicles at least in Mexico. I doubt too many people will get offended by that, but there will be a lot of jokes about your company or product.