4 ms·
The Honda Zero? That's almost as bad as the (apocryphal) Chevy Nova.
by FrankWilhoit 8mo ago
The Honda Zero? That's almost as bad as the (apocryphal) Chevy Nova.
- dlcarrier 8mo agoAlso, nova is a Latin word, so obviously it means nova is Spanish. Saying it gets read as "no va", is like saying English speakers read carpet as "car pet".
- FrankWilhoit 8mo agoSpanish "new" = nuevo, nueva . "nova" is not a Spanish word. You are right that the connotations of any non-word may not be determined by the most obvious decomposition into syllables. But "Honda 0" (car) hits entirely differently from, say, "Coke Zero". (btw, "honda" is Spanish for "deep".)
- radpanda 8mo ago> "nova" is not a Spanish word Nova is Spainish for nova. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova
- FrankWilhoit 7mo agoLoanword.
- dlcarrier 7mo agoAs I mentioned earlier, it's a Latin word, and Latin was already a dead language when the term was coined, so it doesn't get translated; every language uses the Latin term, or its transliterated equivalent. Regardless of the etymology, when the car was released, the term "nova" had long been in use, for the astronomical event.