The Chevy Nova did NOT sell well when released in Latin America, to the point where the company launched an inquiry to figure out why.
Turns out that “No va,” literally translated from Spanish, means “won’t go,” “doesn’t go,” or “doesn’t move.”
A similar problem cropped up in France after WWII, when American manufacturers of powdered milk decided to try selling in Europe. Due to postwar shortages, products like Spam were going gangbusters over there, and milk was another product they were short on, so why not try with powdered milk, yes?
For some reason, the French did NOT like Pet brand powdered milk. They’d buy OTHER brands, but never Pet.
Turned out “pet” is French for “fart,” apparently.
I hadn’t heard the Pet story. I heard that Gerber tried selling baby food in Africa but since many illiterate people would buy food based on pictures on the label…:eek:
WHOA, just read this one: 1997 direct mailer from Weight Watchers featuring Sarah Ferguson, with a caption stating that losing weight was “harder than outrunning the paparazzi”, appeared in mailboxes in the days before and following the death of Ferguson’s former sister-in-law Princess Diana, an incident in which paparazzi were at the time suspected to have played a role. The company quickly pulled the ads.[4][5]
“Pac Man” was originally going to be called “Puck Man.” The official history says it was thus named because it looked like a hockey puck. Eh. . . OK. Another story I’ve heard was that it was based on the gobbling sound “pucka-pucka-pucka-pucka.” In any case, “Puck Man” was too close to the F-bomb to market internationally, so they changed it.
“Light Trespass” is both a thing and a crime, with a mandatory court appearance… a mandatory fine… with X-number of days to fix/remove the light fixture to be within code
or catch another court appearance with a bigger fine.
It’s good to know… especially for people in sleepy neighborhoods who don’t want it lit up like a Brooklyn basketball court at midnight by clueless new neighbors.
Yes, “conventional mass” is indeed a consequence of the buoyancy in air of the materials (though it’s slightly more complicated than weight minus buoyant force, because the brass weights on the other side of the scale also have buoyancy). And in fact, quantities usually are measured and specified in conventional mass. But there are still a few purposes for which true mass is relevant, and so, if one is dealing with one such, and one is working to sufficient precision (about one part in a thousand), one must deal with the distinction.
And last I’d heard, the Lordstown plant was bought by a company making electric delivery trucks. A deal that Trump had no involvement with whatsoever.
Volvo literally means “I roll” in Latin. I initially assumed that was meant to be a literal description of what cars do (that kind of seems like a Swedish thing to do). But according to this article I read today, Volvo was established in 1927 as a subsidiary of a Swedish ball bearing company. Hence “I roll” as a reference to the ball bearings made by their parent company.
That diagonal slash across across Volvo’s grilles, that is now the most distinctive part of their branding, started out simply as something to attach the emblem to. They wanted the emblem right in the center of the grille, needed some way to attach it, and they decided to use a diagonal bar.
The logo itself, which most people today would recognize as the symbol for “male”, was also an ancient symbol for iron. At the time Sweden was known for making some of the world’s best steel, so Volvo picked that symbol to signify that their cars were made from quality Swedish steel.
There’s a discussion in Germany that always comes up when there’s some virus in the wild, so of course once again now: der (male) or das (neuter) Virus? Answer: both are correct. Obligatory disclaimer: the grammatical gender has nothing to do with the biological gender, and both are almost never conflated in languages with different grammatical genders like French and German.
Huh, I never even noticed the diagonal arrow on the Volvo logo before. I thought it was just the word in a circle.
And that symbol also represents Mars (the god and the planet). Its use for iron stems from alchemists co-opting symbols from astrologers, as a way to disguise their work.
My Very Educated** Mother J**ust Served Us Noodles .
To remember the sequence of planets from the sun; Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune. (Pluto is no longer considered a planet)
That would be because most US blacks have European ancestry due to the ubiquitous rape of enslaved black women. Average is 25% European DNA. But obviously it can be a lot higher (Obama, Sally Hemings).
Do they still make/sell hard contacts? I don’t hear about them. Maybe for astigmatism? My brother had them way back in the 70s. I think he uses soft now.