[Humor] Translations

[Bev Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH1 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL>]

I can't vouch for the accuracy or truthfulness of any of the
following, but I thought some of you translators out there might
get a kick out of it.

=*= Beverly Parks =*= bparks -at- huachuca-emh1 -dot- army -dot- mil =*=
 =*= "These opinions are mine, not my employer's." =*=
  =*=                     =*=                     =*=

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      LIST OF AMERICAN SLOGAN TRANSLATIONS INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES

  Here is a look at how shrewd American business people translate their
  slogans into foreign languages:

  1.  When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, "Fly in
  Leather," it came out in Spanish as "Fly Naked."

  2.  Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was
  read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

  3.  Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, "It takes a tough man to make a
  tender chicken," sounds much more interesting in Spanish: "It takes a
  sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate."

  4.  When Vicks first introduce its cough drops on the German market,
  they were chagrined to learn that the German pronunciation of "v" is f -
  which in German is the guttural equivalent of "sexual penetration."

  5.  Not to be outdone, Puffs tissues tried later to introduce its
  product, only to learn that "Puff" in German is a colloquial term for a
  whorehouse.

  6.  The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries.
  "No Va" means "It Does Not Go" in Spanish.

  7.  When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back,
  they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty
  literally.  The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your
  Ancestors Back from the Grave."

  8.  Then when Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product
  something that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola."  The only
  problem was that the characters used meant "Bite The Wax Tadpole."
  They later changed to a set of characters that mean "Happiness In The
  Mouth."

  9.  A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick", a
  curling iron, into Germany only to find out that mist is slang for
  manure.  Not too many people had use for the manure stick.

  10.  When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used
  the same packaging as here in the USA - with the cute baby on the label.
  Later they found out that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures
  on the label of what actually is inside the container since most
  people can not read.

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