Date:         Fri, 24 Oct 2003 10:24:42 -0700
Reply-To:     developtrust <developtrust@COX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         developtrust <developtrust@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: GM's car naming fiasco/true/f/nvc/slightly adult
Comments: To: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Are they also going to change the name of the HUMMER?


> Found at the Beeb world service site
>
> Alistair
>
>
> Buick 'masturbation' car renamed
>
>
> Red-faced officials at General Motors in Canada have been forced to think
of
> a new name for their latest model after discovering it was a slang word
for
> masturbation.
>
> GM officials said they had been unaware that LaCrosse was a term for
> self-gratification among teenagers in French-speaking Quebec.
>
> They are now working on a new name for the LaCrosse in Canada. The car
will
> go on sale next year to replace the Buick Regal.
>
>
> More recently, Mitsubishi had to change the name of its Pajero model in
> Spanish speaking countries, where the word is a slang term for
> "masturbator".
>
> While Toyota's Fiera proved controversial in Puerto Rico, where fiera
> translated to "ugly old woman".
>
> And Ford didn't have the reception it expected in Brazil when their Pinto
> car flopped.
>
> They then discovered that in Brazilian Portuguese slang, pinto means
"small
> penis".
>
>
> Story from BBC NEWS:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3208501.stm
>
> Published: 2003/10/23 15:35:30 GMT
>