For those furren speaking Dopers, or dopers with foriegn friends,
do you have any funny anecdotes of words that They Say that Translate differently in your own language?
An example:
The Telly tubbies have a character named Po.
Po in german slang means butt.
This has caused all our german inlaws to want a Po doll.
In German, the word Fahrt means Trip.
To say, " Habe eine gute fahrt" (Have a nice trip)
Sounds to us, " Have a nice fart."
Hilarity ensues.
From the Pit.
**
Naturally, I will check with my kraut sources on this, but it just cracks me up.
Ikea has apologised after accidentally naming a child’s bunk bed after an obscene German expression.
The Swedish firm didn’t realise the problem until after the £110 bed went on sale across Europe.
The wooden bed is called the “Gutvik” which means "Good f*"** in German.
But the Swedish firm’s adverts for the bed were hastily withdrawn from windows and papers after it was pointed out to bosses what the words meant in German.
IKEA spokesman Sabine Nold, 40, said: "Yes, we do have a bed of this name that is on offer in our stores at the moment.
“It is the name of a tiny Swedish town. We did not realise that it could also be taken as something obscene.”
She says the 10,000 articles in the IKEA catalogue have the same names the world over and occasionally a word might have a different meaning in a different language.
I got these from various Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers that I have at home:
Lost in Translation
The Dairy Association: Taking their “Got Milk?” campaign to Mexico, they translated their slogan into Spanish. Unfortunately, it came out as “Are you lactating?”
Johnson Wax: When Johnson introduced their furniture cleanser Pledge into the Netherlands, they didn’t know that Pledge means “piss” in Dutch.
According to one source, audiences in Lebanon were going to see Titanic because the title in Arabic slang translates as Let’s Have Sex.
What Brazilian would have admitted to driving a Ford Pinto? It turns out that Pinto is slang in Portuguese for “small male genitals.” Ford changed the name in Brazil to “Corcel,” which means horse.
In re the Ikea bed, Fick not vick is the German, although I can see how the pronc. is close enough…
I seriously doubt this.
First, while the particle at the end, “nic” can be heard as “fuck” in Arabic, the word itself, Titanic, does not convey the phrase, let’s fuck in any ordinary way of saying the word.
Nor did I ever hear any such thing, and I would expect I of all people would have.
Did some kids find a way to deform it? Probably, but it’s not something that leaps to mind with the name Titanic.
Now the name Niki/Niky/Nicky – well that does sound like “Fuck me” in the imperative. Advice to travelers, don’t use this nickname / shortening in the Arab world.
Rather more real, the Afro-pop group Zap Mama raised some titters on its tour as the name, when said by Arabic speakers, comes real close to “Mom’s Dick.”
I heard, and PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s too good a story to be false…
A couple of years ago, (UK soccer team) Arsenal were sponsored by Sega. So Sega was the name writ large across their shirts. They qualified for the European cup, and therefore played teams from France, Italy, Spain and so on…
Trouble was… Apparently (and I’m no linguist, so have this only on hearsay), Sega means “wanker” in Spanish…
Ad that’s why their European shirts sponsors got changed post haste to “Dreamcast”
Not having that? OK.
An English friend of mine works in Germany in office A-06. Which in German in A Nol Sechs. Anal Sex. Geddit??
In Afrikaans the word vak means “subject” - as in a subject that you would take at school. The “v” is pronounced as an “f”, mix with teenage hormones and hilarity ensues…
Huh?? Sorry, but Pledge does not translate as “piss”. The dutch word for piss is “plas”, which is not pronounced anything like pledge.
Well, the part about a “pinto” being small male genitals is correct. Little boys have what is usually called a “pinto” in Brazil. However, the trailing “o” is pronounced more like the “ou” in the word “you”. Also, Corcel does not translate as horse. Corcel is some made up name. A horse is a “cavalo”.
Actually, Mycroft, “corcel” IS a Spanish word for horse, though a bit affected – I think it would be close to “steed”, usage-wise. No idea, however, if it applies to Portugese.
BTW, I have no idea where in the whole hispanidad would “sega” mean “wanker”. “Él es un sega”??? Makes no sense. :dubious:
As Bad News Baboon pointed out, “mico” has nothing to do with boogers. “Mico” is slang for “monkey”. However, Shirley, may I point out the “Michigan Oven Company” could be abbreviated M.O.Co. and then the booger joke would apply… so apparently someone flubbed the retelling of what started as a good story.
