Foreign Company/Product Names

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Balaur
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Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Balaur » 2008-12-21, 9:44

In my area, I have noticed some company names derived from German with very strange or negative meanings. The ones I remember are Teufel Nursery, Inc. ('Teufel means 'devil' in German), a landscaping company, and my favorite, Schlecht Construction, Inc. ('schlecht' means 'bad'). I don't know if they are named after a person with such an unfortunate surname, but it's a bit strange that such a thing could happen, and shows that linguists should always be consulted when in the process of naming a company.

What company or product names have you noticed that have funny or negative meanings?
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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby loqu » 2008-12-21, 10:23

Recently in Seville, I have seen Autoescuela El Frenazo (Driving School 'the sudden braking').

And this one is not Spanish nor is it known in Spain, but I always have to laugh at the brand XOXO. It's like the way to write chocho (cunt) in an SMS.
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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Boes » 2008-12-21, 10:42

I know the Finns have a windshield fluid company called 'Superpiss'. :P

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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Ilayde » 2008-12-21, 10:58

This reminded me about this well-known German lighting manufacturer, Osram, which has a rather specific connotations in Poland... because in Polish, the word "osram" is vulgar, meaning more or less "I will shit". So, I wouldn't even dare to say this outloud. I just read that the company has been present on the Polish market for a long time, so it's really strange they never changed the name :O
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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Nukalurk » 2008-12-21, 11:42

Balaur, it might be that yours are just derived from the last names of the founders. There are some really strange surnames. :mrgreen:

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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Oleksij » 2008-12-21, 11:50

:rofl: Teufel Nursery made my day. :yep:
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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Kirk » 2008-12-21, 12:12

Balaur wrote:In my area, I have noticed some company names derived from German with very strange or negative meanings. The ones I remember are Teufel Nursery, Inc. ('Teufel means 'devil' in German), a landscaping company, and my favorite, Schlecht Construction, Inc. ('schlecht' means 'bad'). I don't know if they are named after a person with such an unfortunate surname, but it's a bit strange that such a thing could happen, and shows that linguists should always be consulted when in the process of naming a company.


Haha, that's awesome. Of course, if it's in America where compared to, say, Spanish, as far fewer people speak German natively or nonnatively study it, it's likely that both of those names go by completely unnoticed by the majority of the populace. Still is pretty funny, though.
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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Sol Invictus » 2008-12-21, 13:13

Amikeco wrote:Balaur, it might be that yours are just derived from the last names of the founders. There are some really strange surnames. :mrgreen:

Or maybe from some strange place names :P according to Wikipedia, however, Teufel Nursery is indeed owned by Teufel family

Well, Windows Vista is strange - in Latvian vista means chicken and I remember reading that in some other language it means eye

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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Aleco » 2008-12-21, 16:21

Oh, this is from a TV program! :D I actually saw that Czech hotel in some movie.. I think it's pretty well-known.

1. Sosialurin (Færøyene) "Social urine"
2. Hotel Guggemos (Tyskland) "Hotel clot pulp"
3. Ingen Support (Skottland) "No support"
4. Bøgballe Friskole (Danmark) "Gay ball(testicle) school"
5. Grandhotel Pupp (Tsjekkia) "Grandhotel boob"
6. Alkis Travel (Kypros) "Boozer travel"
7. Drita Albanian Folk Orchestra (Albania) "Drunken Albanian..."
8. Auto-Knull (Tyskland) "Automatic fuck"
9. Busemann GmbH (Tyskland) "Boogieman GmbH"
10. The Raring Corporation (Canada) "The weirdo corporation"
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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Varislintu » 2008-12-21, 16:35

Boes wrote:I know the Finns have a windshield fluid company called 'Superpiss'. :P


Yeah but that's intentional -- it really refers to peeing (we say that the windshield liquid squirters 'pee') ;). That's Finnish profanity for ya :P.

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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Saaropean » 2008-12-21, 16:49

Sol Invictus wrote:
Amikeco wrote:Balaur, it might be that yours are just derived from the last names of the founders. There are some really strange surnames. :mrgreen:

Or maybe from some strange place names :P according to Wikipedia, however, Teufel Nursery is indeed owned by Teufel family

Well, Windows Vista is strange - in Latvian vista means chicken and I remember reading that in some other language it means eye

Between 1991 and 2005, Mr Erwin Teufel was the premier of the south-western German state of Baden-Württemberg. ;)
Today's premier of BaWü is Mr Günther Oettinger, who carries the same name as a cheap beer brand sold in the most popular German discounter supermarket chain... :shock:

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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Balaur » 2008-12-22, 0:10

Yeah, after actually taking a look at the companies' histories, it looks like both companies were founded by people with those surnames.
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Re: Foreign Company/Product Names

Postby Ilayde » 2008-12-22, 8:29

Oh, I remember another one - Hotel Sedes in Berlin. In Polish, the word "sedes" means "toilet bowl". :mrgreen:
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