Mixed up translations (was Re: Mixed Up Movie Titles)
Paul Tomblin
>A Japanese game maker (it was either Taito or Nintendo, I forget) designed
>a video game about a big gorilla that resembled King Kong. I guess they
>didn't want to get into copyright battles by using the name, so they
>called it Monkey Kong. But somewhere along the way, it was transliterated
>incorrectly, and the game became known, for all time, as 'Donkey Kong'.
I thought it was because the japanese think of Donkeys as stupid, and
thought that they were really implying that Kong was stupid.
(or alternatively, the Japanese word for "stupid" is the same as "donkey"?)
--
Paul Tomblin, p...@geovision.gvc.com or {uunet,revcan}!geovision!pt
(This is not an official opinion of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
"I need that trephination stuff like I need another hole in the head"
-- Kim L. Greer in alt.folklore.urban
WA...@slacvm.slac.stanford.edu
Tomblin) says:
>
>schu...@panix.com (Michael Schuster) writes:
>
>>A Japanese game maker (it was either Taito or Nintendo, I forget) designed
>>a video game about a big gorilla that resembled King Kong. I guess they
>>didn't want to get into copyright battles by using the name, so they
>>called it Monkey Kong. But somewhere along the way, it was transliterated
>>incorrectly, and the game became known, for all time, as 'Donkey Kong'.
>
>I thought it was because the japanese think of Donkeys as stupid, and
>thought that they were really implying that Kong was stupid.
>(or alternatively, the Japanese word for "stupid" is the same as "donkey"?)
>
that the name in Japanese meant "stupid gorilla" for the reasons described
above.
Brian
James Pool
: In article <1992Sep16....@geovision.gvc.com>, p...@geovision.gvc.com (Paul
Did you know that Donkey Kong was the first ever game to include the character
Mario, as in Super Marion Bros. Interesting eh?
(don't bother posting a replay saying NO!)
Oscar Trit or Gavin Millarrrrrrrrrrrrr
Robert O'Brien
the "Soarer" was reported in US car magazines as "Soala"
The Mitsubishi "Stallion" was not so fortunate, and the misprint stuck.
Bob
Shirdi R. Prem
One reason why the Vauxhall Nova did not sell very well in
Spain was because
"Nova" == (Spanish *) "Won't move".
(ps. could be an urban legend. I don't Habla Espanol very well)
One thing I do know is that Citroen sold their BX model
in a TRD version in Europe, but the same thing is marketed
as a DTR in the UK, for obvious reasons........
OB-t-shirt :
============
Seen on t-shirt here in Berkeley :
A picture of a shaven pussy, with the words :
"Read My Lips. No Bush in '92."
(There are two puns there. Think about it......)
OB-Lawyer-joke :
================
Reader's Digest, July 1992 :
Q. How many lawyer jokes are there ??
A. Three. The rest are true stories.
OB-Offensive-redneck statements :
=================================
( hey, this is the sentiment that seems to prevail on rec.humor )
( nowadays. So, even if I don't agree with any of this......... )
Jesus is great.
George Bush is great.
Desert Storm was a great victory.
Foreigners suck.
:
:
(blather, blather....burp....fart....)
(Hey, don't blame me, these are redneck statements...)
:
:
:
OB-sig :
================================================================================
==== Prem! ==== (Insert whatever you feel is funny) ====
==== ==== ====
================================================================================
Paul Tomblin
>Before it was available for sale, a Toyota model (not sold in US) called
>the "Soarer" was reported in US car magazines as "Soala"
Evidently, the reason the US pronounces the name Celica different from the
rest of the world can be traced back to one disk jockey at one particular
radio station that ran the first ads for it in the states.
In the rest of the world, it's "Ce-LEAK-ah", in the US it's more like
"Cell-lick-a". One case where Canadian pronunciation thankfully did not
follow the US model.
This story was told to me by the VP of Toyota Canada, Hector Dupuis.
--
Paul Tomblin, p...@geovision.gvc.com
(This is not an official opinion/statement of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
"Ok dear, want me to call the bike shop and see if they'll sponsor your
mid-life crisis?" "Yeah. Ask them if they'll upgrade my shifters, too"
Randall Holt
In the simlar vein of movie title translations;
My younger brother returned from a two year 'tour' of Japan with
the story that the Sly Stallone movie, _First Blood_ was titled _RAMBO_.
This may not seem terribly earth-shaking until it is pointed out that
the direct Japanese translation of _RAMBO_ is _VIOLENCE_.
The movie did very well.
--
Randall W. Holt - rx...@cwru.po.edu | Sturgeon's First Law
Dept. Radiology MetroHealth Hosp. | '90% of everything is crap'
Dept. Biomedical Engineering, CWRU |
(216) 778-8296 |
Tom Johnson
>
>In the simlar vein of movie title translations;
>
And in a similar vein ....
An American WWII movie was once subtitled in French.
One scene involved a sentry who saw some enemy tanks approaching.
He runs into camp screaming "Tanks! Tanks!! Tanks!".
The French subtitle: "Merci! Merci! Merci!"
amco...@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
>
> In the simlar vein of movie title translations;
>
> My younger brother returned from a two year 'tour' of Japan with
> the story that the Sly Stallone movie, _First Blood_ was titled _RAMBO_.
>
> This may not seem terribly earth-shaking until it is pointed out that
> the direct Japanese translation of _RAMBO_ is _VIOLENCE_.
There is a story that has been going around for years that an American
technical manual was translated into Japanese and the term "hydraulic ram" came
out as "water buffalo" in Japanese. Anyone care to vouch for the veracity of
this?
Connor/Castigat ridendo mores
Warren Burstein
> One reason why the Vauxhall Nova did not sell very well in ...
I think it's time someone mentioned September.
--
/|/-\/-\ In real life, the Vice President chastises Murphey Brown
|__/__/_/ for her morals. Bill Clinton plays the sax on "Arsenio
|warren@ Hall." Though "Batman Returns" is fiction, it's not too
/ nysernet.org much stranger than truth - Caryn James, The New York Times
Dolf Grunbauer
something like masturbation in spanish ?
Once FIAT (Italian cars) tried some car called Croma on our dutch market,
but we already have (some sort of) butter called croma, so the car was
no big success.
Didn't one of the advertisments of Coca Cola or Pepsi which was something
like: "brings back the youth in you" or "for a new generation" translated
into Chinese wrongly and when translated back to english it was something
like: "Brings back all your (dead) ancestors"
Dolf
--
_ _
/ U | Dolf Grunbauer E.C.H.O. Development Digital Equipment Enterprises
/__'< do...@echo.philips.nl do...@toet.echo.tds.philips.nl
88 |_\ mcsun!echo.philips.nl!dolf Was Dat voor niets ?
Montykins
>
>Didn't one of the advertisments of Coca Cola or Pepsi which was something
>like: "brings back the youth in you" or "for a new generation" translated
>into Chinese wrongly and when translated back to english it was something
>like: "Brings back all your (dead) ancestors"
>
That'd be in the three-sided Churchill, Bob.
-Paul "Monty" Ashley
obFrozenChicken: Actually, I just wanted to say "obFrozenChicken".
Everyone should say it occasionally.
--
"Didn't expect to see me again, | pas...@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
eh, Svengali?" | [Not a UCSD employee]
-- Bugs Bunny |
Lauren L. Crawford
>Wasn't some Japanese car no success in Spain because it's type name is
>something like masturbation in spanish ?
Nova = no go in Spanish.
>
>Didn't one of the advertisments of Coca Cola or Pepsi which was something
>like: "brings back the youth in you" or "for a new generation" translated
>into Chinese wrongly and when translated back to english it was something
>like: "Brings back all your (dead) ancestors"
"Coke adds life" was the English, I think. We just tried to figure this
one out over on alt.usage.english.
--
Lauren Crawford // craw...@ben.dev.upenn.edu
QUEEN ZENOBIA!
>Wasn't some Japanese car no success in Spain because it's type name is
>something like masturbation in spanish ?
>Once FIAT (Italian cars) tried some car called Croma on our dutch market,
>but we already have (some sort of) butter called croma, so the car was
>no big success.
>Didn't one of the advertisments of Coca Cola or Pepsi which was something
>like: "brings back the youth in you" or "for a new generation" translated
>into Chinese wrongly and when translated back to english it was something
>like: "Brings back all your (dead) ancestors"
And the Grapes of Wrath book by Steinbeck was translated as The Angry Raisins.
I dont remember if into Chinese or Japanese, but i believe Chinese.
-kimberli roan
barth.richards
This sounds like a permutation of the wax tadpole UL/factoid/true story.
To review:
When Coca Cola began marketing in the People's Republic of China, they
selected a series of Chinese syllables that sounded close to "koh kah koh
lah," but later discovered that the syllables meant "bite the wax tadpole."
They then selected another sequence of syllables that meant "the mouth
rejoices."
Does anyone know whether this is a UL or TRUE STORY(TM)?
--
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
88 Barth Richards "Language is a virus from outer space." 88
88 att!ihlpf!barth - William S. Burroughs 88
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Dustin Slater
wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car). It didn't sell well in
Mexico because in spanish no va means (literally) "no go". not a great name
for a car.
--
de...@buhub.bradley.edu INEVITABILE FATVM de...@camelot.bradley.edu
Come and die with me forever.
Kristy Patterson
>I admittedly haven't been following this string to closely, so i am
>wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car). It didn't sell well in
>Mexico because in spanish no va means (literally) "no go". not a great name
>for a car.
There are some really unfortunate car name out there;
Chevrolet CITATION? Nice to name your car "traffic ticket."
I also heard rumors of a Dodge (I believe it was Dodge) IMPACT.
I thought that was a good one, too.
Kristy "I'll take the GEO Crash, please" Patterson
>--
>de...@buhub.bradley.edu INEVITABILE FATVM de...@camelot.bradley.edu
>
> Come and die with me forever.
--
+==========================+===========================================+
|Kristy Patterson | What is the law? NO SPILL BLOOD! |
|kri...@mac.dartmouth.edu | Who makes the rules? SOMEONE ELSE! |
+==========================+============================Oingo Boingo===+
David Esan
>wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car). It didn't sell well in
>Mexico because in spanish no va means (literally) "no go". not a great name
>for a car.
And number 3.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--> David Esan d...@moscom.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crunchy Frog
>In article <1992Sep30.2...@bradley.bradley.edu>
> de...@buhub.bradley.edu (Dustin Slater) writes:
>>I admittedly haven't been following this string to closely, so i am
>>wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car). It didn't sell well in
>>Mexico because in spanish no va means (literally) "no go". not a great name
>>for a car.
>
>And number 3.
You just *love* this, don't you?
C "Anyone know any good Churchill stories?" Frog
Hal Wadleigh
not get a warm reception in Spanish-speaking countries.
No Va = Won't Go
Paul Tomblin
>I admittedly haven't been following this string to closely, so i am
>wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car). It didn't sell well in
>Mexico because in spanish no va means (literally) "no go". not a great name
>for a car.
Yes, and I hear that Monty Python once made a record with 3 sides.
(Or maybe it was Gladstone and the Disraelites)
--
Paul Tomblin, p...@geovision.gvc.com or {uunet,revcan}!geovision!pt
(This is not an official opinion of GeoVision Systems Inc.)
In our innermost soul, we are children and remain so for the rest of our lives
-- Sigmund Freud
Warren Burstein
I admittedly haven't been following this string to closely, so i am
wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car).
I'm afraid not.
Lauren L. Crawford
>
>There are some really unfortunate car name out there;
>Chevrolet CITATION? Nice to name your car "traffic ticket."
>I also heard rumors of a Dodge (I believe it was Dodge) IMPACT.
>I thought that was a good one, too.
Then there's my favorite air traffic folks: RANSOM AIRLINES.
Doug Landauer
> Chevrolet CITATION? Nice to name your car "traffic ticket."
As Steven Wright might've said if he'd thought of it:
Two of my imaginary friends bought new cars today.
A Charade, and a Mirage.
Laurence Doering
Forget the Chevy Nova? Not likely, since EVERYBODY and their BROTHER has
been DRILLING the fact that "Nova" means "doesn't go" in Spanish into
our HEADS with JACKHAMMER-like PRECISION.
Oh, by the way, I heard there was a computer program developed in the
Fifties that was supposed to automate translation of Russian into English.
It rendered "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" into the Russian
for "The meat is rotten, but the vodka is holding out." Is this true?
Larry "Ted, do you know?" Doering
Citecheck Hell
That's four.
Ted "anyone know any funny stories about tv game shows?" Frank
--
.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
ted frank | th...@midway.uchicago.edu | standard disclaimers
the university of chicago law school, chicago, illinois 60637
Charles Lasner
>
>(Or maybe it was Gladstone and the Disraelites)
No, Desmond Dekker and the Aces.
cj "I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde" l
obQues: Can someone explain the connection between the Israelites and
Bonnie n' Clyde?
Mark Eckenwiler
>I admittedly haven't been following this string to closely, so i am
>wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car). It didn't sell well in
>Mexico because in spanish no va means (literally) "no go". not a great name
>for a car.
No no no. You're confusing this with the short-lived American Motors
vehicle, the Pollo Gelido.
>de...@buhub.bradley.edu INEVITABILE FATVM de...@camelot.bradley.edu
>
> Come and die with me forever.
Snuff said.
- Mark "My other car is a Supercooled Capon" Eckenwiler
--
The sleep of reason begets Limbaughs.
Mark Eckenwiler e...@panix.com ...!cmcl2!panix!eck
David Esan
What can I say?
I don't like it. It just amazes me that when someone goes newbie trolling
how many people he catches.
I generally lurk in newsgroups for a while so that I don't unintentionally
make a fool of myself. And then join only tenatively until I am sure of the
flow of the group. This is not just on the computer but in life. One can't
just wade in, you must test the waters first, and see if you have anything
that can be contributed, or that you want to get involved in the first place.
I was once in a deep discussion of the nuances of model rocketry with a
friend. We both had launched more than 100 model rockets each, and we
were comparing notes. A third person entered the conversation with: "I
shot a rocket once." It was completely inappropriate to the existing
conversation, and if he taken the time to listen he would have realized
that he was out of his depth in the conversation, and had nothing to
contribute.
I think newbies (whether freshman or new to the net) should have the same
politeness. There is an FAQ list that is posted regularly that states that
this is a strange group. A two week perusal of the group will have the
new user up to speed where the question of posh will not have to answered,
and Nova can remain at GM.
Actually, I shot a rocket once, wouldn't be a bad motto for AFU.
"Vunce the rockets are up, who cares where they come down,
Its not my department,
said Werner von Braun."
Charles Lasner
>In article <1992Oct1.2...@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> amo...@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Crunchy Frog) writes:
>
>Actually, I shot a rocket once, wouldn't be a bad motto for AFU.
I shot a rocket once. I read AFU.
That must be the connection.
4 out of 5 people who ever shot off rockets read AFU.
cjl
Stephanie da Silva
>
> Chevrolet CITATION? Nice to name your car "traffic ticket."
Nononono.
The absolute most ridiculous name goes to the Ford Probe.
I mean, honestly. Would you buy a used Probe?
Citecheck Hell
>Oh, by the way, I heard there was a computer program developed in the
>Fifties that was supposed to automate translation of Russian into English.
>It rendered "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" into the Russian
>for "The meat is rotten, but the vodka is holding out." Is this true?
>
>Larry "Ted, do you know?" Doering
No, I can't say that I do.
On the other hand, I reread a Dave Barry column last night where he mentions
the Wax Tadpole incident. He claims to have called Coca-Cola and gotten
confirmation of this story from someone named Darlene.
Does anyone know a Darlene at Coca-Cola, or know someone who does?
Ted "teeth of the sea" Frank
Warren Burstein
Let's nor forget the classic Chevy Nova (I have one for sale, BTW)
which did not get a warm reception in Spanish-speaking countries.
How could we?
Jay Denebeim
>
> You just *love* this, don't you?
I know I am. I'm just waiting for snopes to join in.
Jay "We don't need no stinking quote" Denebeim
Terry Chan
+>
+> There are some really unfortunate car name out there;
+> Chevrolet CITATION? Nice to name your car "traffic ticket."
+> I also heard rumors of a Dodge IMPACT. I thought that was a good one, too.
ari...@NeoSoft.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:
+
+Nononono.
+
+The absolute most ridiculous name goes to the Ford Probe.
+
+I mean, honestly. Would you buy a used Probe?
Sounds like a clever name to reinforce the new car market and dispense
with the aftermarket.
BTW, isn't the GM hotshot electric car called the Impact?
Terry "If it isn't, it ought to be" Chan
--
Energy and Environment Division | Internet: TWC...@lbl.gov
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory |
Berkeley, California USA 94720 | Carpe Per Diem
maurice
it. But when you're 12, the principle is the same.
Anybody famous ever shoot off a rocket?
maurice
Maurice Forrester
mjfo...@suvm.syr.edu
George Jetson
>In <1992Sep30.2...@bradley.bradley.edu> de...@buhub.bradley.edu (Dustin Slater) writes:
>
> I admittedly haven't been following this string to closely, so i am
> wonderin if you have mentioned the Nova (car).
>
>I'm afraid not.
These 3 strings walk into a bar ... (*)
Anyway, one wonders why they don't just translate "Nova" into Spanish,
and call it a "Nuevo".
(*) Write me if you don't get this.
************************************************************************
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