# THINK before you name your product **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 24, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920 "2003-04-24T18:39:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/21 "2003-04-24T22:53:45Z")
The best–although not the fault of the namers–is the “Gay Cock” brand of foodstuffs (which can still be purchased in some places). I mean, having one word out of your name go south on you is one thing, but both… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/22 "2003-04-24T23:01:58Z")
Ah yes, the Ikea thing. [Here’s the story](http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/56737.htm). They named a children’s bed model the “Gutvik”, which means “good fuck” in German. ---
**Author:** ![DeskMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DeskMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeskMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/23 "2003-04-24T23:07:56Z")
In our “International Foods” aisle of our local supermarket, they have Cock Flavored Soup. Hey, if I ain’t swalloing the real stuff, I ain’t swallowing the imitation stuff either! One that always gets me is on a silly wedding message board I visited while I was planning my Special Princess Day. (ugh) They call their bridesmaids BMs. Now, having worked with kids, I know this term. I have used this term. And never once when I had to deal with a BM was there a woman in an ugly pink dress waiting for me in the bathroom with a bouquet of flowers. Not even once. To me a BM is a bowel movement, so when one of the bridezillas over there would go on about how her BM was driving her nuts and doing a lousy job I always wanted to reply with “Gee, none of my turds has ever thrown me a bridal shower either and you don’t see me complaining!” ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/24 "2003-04-25T01:36:20Z")
Granted I can’t prove it, but I remember reading in a Piers Anthony story collection (“Anthonology” I think) about how in the Japanese language Coca Cola translated phonetically to mean “bite the wax tadpole”. He’d had one of his stories translated to Japanese without authorization. He was presented the Japanese version, and being curious, he found a translator, who related the anectdote to him. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/25 "2003-04-25T01:40:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*BickByro: Perhaps the marketing team was drinking the Japanese yogurt-based drink Calpis[sup]tm[/sup] {pronounced “Cow-Piss”}. \*\* Actually, it’s “karupisu”. > [@](#): > > From [this site](http://nikkeiview.com/archives98.htm): > Calpico – This is a very popular non-carbonated soft drink in Japan, which you can buy either in concentrate form (in a brown glass bottle wrapped in white crepe paper with blue polka dots) or these days in individual, pre-diluted cans. What’s so special about this stuff? It’s yogurt-based – at least, its ingredients include nonfat dry milk “treated with lactic acid culture” – and it’s very, very sweet depending on how much you dilute it. I like mine with club soda for a fizz, but I’ve also been known to chug it straight right out of the bottle. > > One side note about Calpico – its actual Japanese name was and still is, Calpis, pronounced “Cah-roo-peesu.” But the importer changed the product name in the U.S. because “Calpis” to many Americans looks like it should have the same pronunciation as cow urine… Also, Snopes on the [“bite the wax tadpole”](http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tadpole.asp) story. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/26 "2003-04-25T01:41:22Z")
Did anyone mention the town in Austria called ‘Fucking’ ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/27 "2003-04-25T02:46:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zabali\_Clawbane \* > \*\*Granted I can’t prove it, but I remember reading in a Piers Anthony story collection (“Anthonology” I think) about how in the Japanese language Coca Cola translated phonetically to mean “bite the wax tadpole”. He’d had one of his stories translated to Japanese without authorization. He was presented the Japanese version, and being curious, he found a translator, who related the anectdote to him. \*\* There’s some truth to this. Actually, in _Chinese_, one of the possible readings of _ko-ka-ko-la_, is ‘bite the wax tadpole’, and it’s possible that some shopkeepers made up their own unofficial Coke signs using this reading (or one of the many other nonsense readings), but Coca-Cola Co. has never used it in any official signs or labels. Snopes: > **[Bite the Wax Tadpole](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bite-the-wax-tadpole/)** > > Did Coca-Cola translate its name into a Chinese phrase meaning 'bite the wax tadpole'? As for the Piers Anthony story, it’s possible, but I don’t think it would have been a Japanese translation. Japanese uses a purely phonetic writing system for foreign and made-up words, so ‘Coca-Cola’ doesn’t mean anything in Japanese but ‘Coca-Cola’. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/28 "2003-04-25T03:00:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sublight, and then translated into chinese, then back to english \* > \*\*Has some truth to this. In fact, with Chinese, in the middle one which ko potassium ko la possible to study, is ’ bites nips wax tadpole ', and it were the possible some shop owners to make up they unofficial coke symbolize used this studies (in the middle one which or many people of other nonsense studied), but the Coca Cola Company never used it in all officially symbolizes or the label. \*\* What was that **Sublight**? (I just love altavista babelfish) ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/29 "2003-04-25T04:27:21Z")
You guys may have read about this new Mexican cuisine restaurant in California called \*\* C. O. Jones \*\*. There was a bit of an uproar in the local hispanic community. Why? Because the name of the restaurant spells \*\* cojones \*\*, which, in Spanish, means \*\* testicles \*\*. You guys can check out the menu for yourselves 😉 [http://www.c-o-jones.com/](http://www.c-o-jones.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/30 "2003-04-25T04:40:01Z")
Cheese Rip-ums ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/31 "2003-04-25T04:47:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by green\_bladder \* > \*\*You guys may have read about this new Mexican cuisine restaurant in California called \*\* C. O. Jones \*\*. There was a bit of an uproar in the local hispanic community. Why? Because the name of the restaurant spells \*\* cojones \*\*, which, in Spanish, means \*\* testicles \*\*. > > You guys can check out the menu for yourselves 😉 > > [http://www.c-o-jones.com/](http://www.c-o-jones.com/) \*\* Better go back and read that link again **GB** The towns of New Haven and West Hartford aren’t in **Ca** lifornia… ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/32 "2003-04-25T05:58:57Z")
Hehe. C. O. Jones’ website has the phrase: “Ballsy Mexican Cuisine!”. They know very well what their name means. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/33 "2003-04-25T06:03:37Z")
I just saw a tv commercial this week for a brand of car tires. The company is called “Kumho”. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/34 "2003-04-25T06:15:23Z")
Although I recently started a thread about this, I **STILL** cannot wrap my head around the idea that a childrens toy is named “the Fuzzy Pumper”. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/35 "2003-04-25T06:44:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LordVor \* > \*\*Windows CE, often shortened to WinCE. They named their product “Wince”. > \*\* Hey! Truth in advertising! ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/36 "2003-04-25T07:38:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rostfrei \* > \*\*I just saw a tv commercial this week for a brand of car tires. The company is called “Kumho”. \*\* Laughable, yes… but this brand is Korean, and is properly pronounced (in Korean) “Koom-ho”. Another Korean product that I found funny while in Korea was the “Dorco” line of shaving products. Haven’t seen them here in the US… huh. Not to mention “Pokari Sweat” (a sports drink from Japan, I think). And many others. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/37 "2003-04-25T07:47:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*Ah yes, the Ikea thing. [Here’s the story](http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/56737.htm). They named a children’s bed model the “Gutvik”, which means “good fuck” in German. \*\* Nope. It sounds like the words that mean “Goo Fuck.” The actual German words would be “Gute fick.” ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/38 "2003-04-25T07:52:20Z")
Crap. Preview. “Good …” ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/39 "2003-04-25T07:54:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rick \* > \*\*Better go back and read that link again **GB** The towns of New Haven and West Hartford aren’t in **Ca** lifornia… \*\* :smack: :smack: Well, what do I know, I’m in HK 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![naim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@naim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naim)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920/40 "2003-04-25T09:28:43Z")
Hello Board! Ref. to Ikea’s Gudvik: The name may have inspired some giggles from easily amused youths, but as Mort Furd already explained, it means nothing in German. The pronounciation to make it sound like a joined form of “ein guter Fick” could be described as “Gootfeeck”, written “Gutfick”. A more natural pronounciation for this obviously non-german word would be “Goodwick”, at least in Austria, but probably also in most regions of Germany. Googling Gudvik I found no mention of the apology story in german sources, so I doubt its credibility (although at least one writer for a youth column found the name quite funny). But some years ago I purchased a handtorch from Ikea, whose name was not funny, as far as I can recall, but what brought a smile to my face was the nice touch that the swedish word for handtorch is obviously “ficklampa”, and this is sufficiently close to “Ficklampe” to translate to “fuck-lamp”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/think-before-you-name-your-product/170920.md?page=3)