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"To English-speakers’ eyes the difference between “Crabhouse” and “Clubhouse” are quite clear, but that’s not necessarily the case in other languages. In Japane

by nippoo 6y ago

"To English-speakers’ eyes the difference between “Crabhouse” and “Clubhouse” are quite clear, but that’s not necessarily the case in other languages. In Japanese, the pronunciation of the letters “l” and “r” are largely interchangeable, as are the English vowels “a” and “u” in many cases. “Crab” and “club” is one such case and to make matters worse, when rendered in Japanese katakana script they become identical: クラブハウス." This is clearly a purposefully confusing/punny name (it's unclear whether they made any money from downloads or if it was just an elaborate joke)... - it doesn't seem particularly draconian for Apple to wield their hammer in this particular instance...

jesperlang 6y ago
Just to clearify: ク = Ku ラ = Ra ブ = bu Crab would be Cu-ra-bu (Kurabu) Club would be Cu-(l/r)a-bu (Kurabu)
- joeblau 6y ago
  Thanks for clearing up how the words are pronounced.
zerocrates 6y ago
The App Store screenshot shows it as being free. I'm pretty sure "elaborate joke" is the correct place to come down on this. Also see the hastily-corrected name on the wall of "crabhome."
dalai 6y ago
Isn’t this a bit unfair? The app is free (with IAP) and the screenshots are a dead giveaway what the app is about. If crabhouse was the most popular, would they force Clubhouse to change its name? Somehow I doubt it.
hkmurakami 6y ago
> it's unclear whether they made any money from downloads or if it was just an elaborate joke The top review on Japan app store (translation by yours truly): "recently work had been so busy that I was starting to get depressed. That's when uuddenly I wanted to eat taraba-kani (red king crab), but in my wallet was 50yen and not a Noguchi (the person on the 10,000JPY bill). I sighed and fiddled around with my phone...and that's when I discovered this app. At firsti thought this app would just be about gazing at crabs, but before I knew it my fingers had tapped the install button and I had opened the app. What a wonder! My fingers wouldn't stop using the crabs and before I knew it it was morning. As I was getting ready to go to work the crab at the top right of the screen spoke out to me, "work isn't worth it, you should quit." Tears flowed from my eyes. "That's right... I had tried hard enough." That day I resigned from my job. Today I'm living happily with 32 crabs. My house smells a little fishy but I'm having a pretty fun time now. Aah, I want to eat King crab..." https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/crabhome/id1551908729?l=en https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/crabhome/id1551908729?l=en Looks like the app is now called crab home.
- jiyanjs 6y ago
  The person on the 10,000 JPY bill is Yukichi Fukuzawa.
  - hinoki 6y ago
    Noguchi Hideyo is on the ¥1000 bill, so I think GP just added an extra zero? But that’s odd, since king crab is pretty expensive. I’d be suspicious of any place serving it for ¥1000!
    - jiyanjs 6y ago
      True. Either that or they messed up their famous people on bills. ¥1000 crab sounds suspicious indeed.
- lovedswain 6y ago
  It is my dream to some day release an app that garners a review like this
mc32 6y ago
Moreover Crab in Japanese as far as I can tell is ‘Kani’ [かに]. So it would be ‘KaniHouse’ which makes this a more obvious riff.
- bruxis 6y ago
  English/foreign words are commonly adopted nowadays, especially for naming of products and places.
- numpad0 6y ago
  Japanese language isn’t so strict wrt throwing in transliterated words, eg “このスキームでワークすると直ちにアグリーはできない(kono scheme de work suru to tadachi ni agree ha dekinai)” would work in Japanese webdev
fsckboy 6y ago
"This is clearly a purposefully confusing/punny name"... the measurement of trademark infringement is not how much money a competitor makes, but how much the owner loses. Is Clubhouse losing any money or users due to the confusing/punny name they themselves clearly chose for their product in the Japanese market? I bet not a single person who wants Clubhouse is deterred or confused by this obvious lighthearted satirical farce. This squabble probably brings more attention to their product, Streisand effect. (and yes, this was an Apple move, not a Clubhouse move as far as we know, but the point stands)
- woah 6y ago
  What?
heavyset_go 6y ago
> it doesn't seem particularly draconian for Apple to wield their hammer in this particular instance... Ironic, considering the issue[1] between Apple Corps, Apple Computer and now even further blur the lines, Apple Music[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer [2] https://music.apple.com/ https://music.apple.com/

by nippoo 6y ago

jesperlang 6y ago

Just to clearify: ク = Ku ラ = Ra ブ = bu Crab would be Cu-ra-bu (Kurabu) Club would be Cu-(l/r)a-bu (Kurabu)

joeblau 6y ago
Thanks for clearing up how the words are pronounced.

zerocrates 6y ago

The App Store screenshot shows it as being free. I'm pretty sure "elaborate joke" is the correct place to come down on this. Also see the hastily-corrected name on the wall of "crabhome."

dalai 6y ago

Isn’t this a bit unfair? The app is free (with IAP) and the screenshots are a dead giveaway what the app is about. If crabhouse was the most popular, would they force Clubhouse to change its name? Somehow I doubt it.

hkmurakami 6y ago

> it's unclear whether they made any money from downloads or if it was just an elaborate joke The top review on Japan app store (translation by yours truly): "recently work had been so busy that I was starting to get depressed. That's when uuddenly I wanted to eat taraba-kani (red king crab), but in my wallet was 50yen and not a Noguchi (the person on the 10,000JPY bill). I sighed and fiddled around with my phone...and that's when I discovered this app. At firsti thought this app would just be about gazing at crabs, but before I knew it my fingers had tapped the install button and I had opened the app. What a wonder! My fingers wouldn't stop using the crabs and before I knew it it was morning. As I was getting ready to go to work the crab at the top right of the screen spoke out to me, "work isn't worth it, you should quit." Tears flowed from my eyes. "That's right... I had tried hard enough." That day I resigned from my job. Today I'm living happily with 32 crabs. My house smells a little fishy but I'm having a pretty fun time now. Aah, I want to eat King crab..." https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/crabhome/id1551908729?l=en https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/crabhome/id1551908729?l=en Looks like the app is now called crab home.

jiyanjs 6y ago
The person on the 10,000 JPY bill is Yukichi Fukuzawa.
- hinoki 6y ago
  Noguchi Hideyo is on the ¥1000 bill, so I think GP just added an extra zero? But that’s odd, since king crab is pretty expensive. I’d be suspicious of any place serving it for ¥1000!
  - jiyanjs 6y ago
    True. Either that or they messed up their famous people on bills. ¥1000 crab sounds suspicious indeed.
lovedswain 6y ago
It is my dream to some day release an app that garners a review like this

mc32 6y ago

Moreover Crab in Japanese as far as I can tell is ‘Kani’ [かに]. So it would be ‘KaniHouse’ which makes this a more obvious riff.

bruxis 6y ago
English/foreign words are commonly adopted nowadays, especially for naming of products and places.
numpad0 6y ago
Japanese language isn’t so strict wrt throwing in transliterated words, eg “このスキームでワークすると直ちにアグリーはできない(kono scheme de work suru to tadachi ni agree ha dekinai)” would work in Japanese webdev

fsckboy 6y ago

"This is clearly a purposefully confusing/punny name"... the measurement of trademark infringement is not how much money a competitor makes, but how much the owner loses. Is Clubhouse losing any money or users due to the confusing/punny name they themselves clearly chose for their product in the Japanese market? I bet not a single person who wants Clubhouse is deterred or confused by this obvious lighthearted satirical farce. This squabble probably brings more attention to their product, Streisand effect. (and yes, this was an Apple move, not a Clubhouse move as far as we know, but the point stands)

woah 6y ago
What?

heavyset_go 6y ago

> it doesn't seem particularly draconian for Apple to wield their hammer in this particular instance... Ironic, considering the issue[1] between Apple Corps, Apple Computer and now even further blur the lines, Apple Music[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer [2] https://music.apple.com/ https://music.apple.com/