Whatever “No va” actually means in Spanish, I did see a 1969 Nova in Austin, Texas, with a license plate that read “SI VA 69.”
It made my day.
Tsubaki, you forgot Pocari Sweat!
I live about 30 miles from the “Water-Ma-Trout Industrial Estate”
Half the Ikea range has really inapropriate names. At this stage I think they do it on purpose, but off the top of my head I can think of the Jerker stool, and the Smog lamp.
The training club Mr Fitta has redone their site now, but it used to have a little message on the front page saying “Thank you to all our concerned Swedish friends, we know what our name means, you don’t need to mail us about it anymore”. Their name is Mr Cunt in Swedish.
On WGN, an Indiana RV dealer by the name of Don Raper frequently advertises.
In Fremont, Nebraska, Al Pimper sells Chryslers.
Soon it will be spring–time for those of British extraction to chuckle at the many ads for "sod services"on local TV. I’m thinking that if the drought continues much longer I’ll start a business that rips up turf and replaces it with green-tinted concrete. Of course, I’ll call it Sod Off.
Thought of 2 others–Holiday Inn Express and Ramada Limited.
“Holiday Inn Express” sounds like a place you take your mistress for a nooner rather than some place you’d spend the whole night.
“Ramada Limited”–What exactly are they limiting? I think of a place where the sheets are changed twice a month “whether they need it or not”.
In the UK/Ireland/Hong Kong (and probably other places too), “Limited” (abbr. “Ltd.”) after a company name, means “Limited liability company”, an incorporation of a company that absolves the directors from full financial responsibility in the event of bankruptcy. It’s very common, and applies to the majority of companies.
Similar to “Inc.” in the US, or “Pty.” in Australia (though I don’t know their exact meaning).
Maybe Ramada was originally foreign-owned? Or maybe “Ltd.” used to be used in the US?
Lovely! And I hope that I’m not the only Swede that finds the name Supa’ Snaps intriguing (it’s a Brittish chain of fast film development shops) as it means something like gulp a dram.
I saw these also, in Oregon, and had about the same reaction. As it turns out marion berries are from Marion County, Oregon, and similar to blackberries. I guess the former mayor’s parents had a strange sense of humor. It kind of explains a lot.
In Burlington, VT there’s the Ready Funeral Home.
It’s pronounced Reed-y, but still…
And, following on the funeral home theme, there’s one in Buffalo called Amigone Funeral Home. Am i gone? You bet.
I don’t think much can beat Booing Fireman gum, though. Spanking by the Sea comes close.
And then there’s the semilegendary Beaver Liquors (yes, really) of Avon, Colorado. A friend of mine has a promotional key chain of theirs. Her mom got it for her, evidently to say “Hey, I’m so okay with your lesbianism.”
on the lesbian theme…
i have a photo of myself in a little Aussie town called Bathurst, outside a shop called
“Dykes Dry Cleaning”
Amigone Funeral Homes - Buffalo, NY
The only thing we have around here is “Yahway’s Used Car Dealership”. I mean, I really wouldn’t have pegged Him as a used car dealer. But I always wanted to come up with advertising slogans like, “You buy it, we bless it!”, “Bad credit? That’s okay, we’ll get you in a car today. Consider it an act of God.”
Also, we have Fudrucker’s hamburger restarants here. I always thought that a strange name.
In sleepy little Osgood, IN there used to be the Damm Theater, run by the Damm family. (Boarded up last time I went through, sadly.) Quite a gigglefest for us kids to say “let’s go to that DAMM theater, hehehehehehehe!”
You do know the bunghole is where the wine comes out of the cask, right?
Do fictional names count? I keep thinking of “Stoner’s Pot Palace” from that episode of the Simpsons. 
Bar-F - gas station chain in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Any suburban subdivision named Morningwood - yes, they are out there.
On Kingsway in Burnaby, just before you get to Vancouver, there is a sign for a dentist. I presume the good Doctor is of Asian extraction.
Dr. P. K. Ow
Proudly painted on the side of a diner in Carizoso, NM: Ho-Made Tamales, Ho-Made Chili
A company we deal with for scientific equipment: Plant Moisture Stress, inc, or co, or whatever. They go by PMS.
And one night, I swear I dreamed it, and thought for several minutes that they’d yell “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” I witnessed an infomercial for an instrument designed to easily remove the bones from trout. The name of this miracle tool? The Wonder Boner. There’s something rather disturbing about a staged scene with a bunch of manly men in their flannel sitting around the campfire rhapsodizing about how they LOVE The Wonder Boner!
Another Japanese name
Well, I can’t find a link through Google, but every morning on the train I’ve seen an ad for a health drink called Placenta.
My favorite story was about Matsushita Electronics (sold in America as Panasonic) and their entry into the Internet. They were planning to set up an Internet portal site, similar to Yahoo!, and had licensed Woody Woodpecker as the site’s mascot. The name and slogan chosen for the site? Touch Woody: The Internet Pecker.
It ran into a couple of snags.