mvaters
12-24-2003, 03:08 PM
http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/News/0,,1369-1372_1436785,00.html
Car names: Pull the other one... by John Oxley
28/10/2003 15:46
General Motors has had to change the name of a popular car because it's slang for masturbation in parts of Canada! And there's more.
The car in question is the Buick LaCrosse. This will be renamed in Canada because the name for the car is slang for masturbation in Quebec.
And it's not the first time. The Mitsubishi Pajero is called Shogun in some markets because Pajero (pronounced "Pahero") means "faggot" in Spanish.
And the Toyota MR2 is renamed in French-speaking countries because it sounds like merde, French for excrement.
The laCrosse is not GM's first gaff, by the way. For instance the Chevrolet Nova didn't sell well in latino speaking countries - not surprisingly, because in Spanish nova means "doesn't go".
On the lighter side, in Australia the Mazda 323 is known in the trade as the "Tarzan" - "tree-to-tree" ...
And here at home, a reader tells us that when the VW Polo was launched, South Sotho-speaking South Africans were appalled, as the name polo in that language actually means ... a penis!
Car names: Pull the other one... by John Oxley
28/10/2003 15:46
General Motors has had to change the name of a popular car because it's slang for masturbation in parts of Canada! And there's more.
The car in question is the Buick LaCrosse. This will be renamed in Canada because the name for the car is slang for masturbation in Quebec.
And it's not the first time. The Mitsubishi Pajero is called Shogun in some markets because Pajero (pronounced "Pahero") means "faggot" in Spanish.
And the Toyota MR2 is renamed in French-speaking countries because it sounds like merde, French for excrement.
The laCrosse is not GM's first gaff, by the way. For instance the Chevrolet Nova didn't sell well in latino speaking countries - not surprisingly, because in Spanish nova means "doesn't go".
On the lighter side, in Australia the Mazda 323 is known in the trade as the "Tarzan" - "tree-to-tree" ...
And here at home, a reader tells us that when the VW Polo was launched, South Sotho-speaking South Africans were appalled, as the name polo in that language actually means ... a penis!