One of these days, I’m going to stop in and ask. 
CNN.
The average keyboard has number of keys. We say you only need 3. CNN
Wha…? How many keys??
I haven’t checked out the debunking, but I should point out that “no va” does, in fact, mean “it doesn’t go” in Spanish.
Whether they marketed it under that name in Spanish is another matter. I’ll have to check what it says on snopes.
From snopes
So basically the Nova= no va thing is something that you’d have to go out of your way to point out.
Didn’t seem to affecyt sales apparently.
Not a real slogan but I loved Jerry Della Femina’s book From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave you Pearl Harbor. As he explains
Here’s the Snopes link about the Chevy Nova:
A real slogan that I remember from long, long ago–late sixties, I believe:
NOTHING SUCKS LIKE ELECTROLUX
That’s the Culver Meat Co’s slogan - here’s a pic:
I’ve also seen an auto detailing place in West Los Angeles with a sign that says: “Your body deserves a hand job”
Not a real, company-approved slogan, actually. In fact, our very own LifeOnWry has admitted that she was responsible for this. It seems she and a friend were playing around with the office equipment one day and modified an invoice or two as a lark . She then sent one of modified invoices out by accident.
In San Luis Obispo, California, they run a county-wide bus system.
Now, most bus systems have important sounding names, such as Metropolitan Transit Authority or Rapid Transit District.
But we were honest with our bus system
Totally honest.
Brutally honest.
The sides of the San Luis Obispo city buses were emblazoned in big letters:
SLO TRANSIT
They are talking about Crazy people, a fun little comedy about a P.R. guy sent to a mental hospital, and ends up using his fellow inmates ideas for commercial slogans.
you all need to go to www.engrish.com . not necessarily the worst slogans ever, but certainly the weirdest. “Sincerely Gift - Overlapping Mind with Mind” (?)
Feel free to take advantage of our chambermaid
There’s an HIV support group in Toronto whose slogan is “Making a Positive Difference”.
I remember furing the Atlanta Summer Olympics their slogan was , “The City too Busy to Hate” or something like that. It always seemed to imply to me that once they found a spare moment they would be sure to get some decent hating in.
Seems to me that my belief in snopes being a credible source has been completely shot by this article about the Chevy Nova.
For one, it contains no cites. I don’t believe for a minute that the name “Nova” affected the vehicles sales in Spanish speaking markets. However, the part of the editorial that stunned me, was the writers belief that no va has an accent on the va part of the sentence (va means he, she, or it doesn’t go…ironically, a conjucation of the verb ir which means “to go”).
I’ll have to query my ancient spanish textbooks about this, but every single Spanish speaking person I know pronounces no va with equal emphasis on each word (as do I). Furthermore, I find it hard to believe that this can be classified as an urban legend simply because the only part of the “legend” I have ever heard cited is the part of what Nova apparently means in Spanish. I have never heard anyone ever state that the name affected sales.
When I was in Mexico 20 years ago, “Nova” was the term used for regular (leaded) gasoline. I remember this because there was a gasoline shortage in Tijuana, and all the stations had signs saying “No Nova”. We wound up having to get “Extra” (unleaded).
Seems kinda odd that a term meaning “it doesn’t go” would be used for gasoline…
Even if you pronounce “no va” with equal emphasis, it is still pronounced differently from “Nova”, which has the accent on the first syllable. The example Snopes gives (“Notable” compared to “no table”) is a good analogy. In any case, I hope that
was merely a typo, as “va” means he, she, or it goes. “No va” means he, she, or it doesn’t go.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Azure Eternity *
Even if you pronounce “no va” with equal emphasis, it is still pronounced differently from “Nova”, which has the accent on the first syllable. The example Snopes gives (“Notable” compared to “no table”) is a good analogy.
However, to an english speaking person, they both sound identical (as does the analogy).
You got me there…though I’d like to point out that it can also mean a formal version of “you go”
And the Yugo was a terrible car.