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Go To Work On A Spazz? Product Name Translation Troubles

Vardoger said:
Honda was about to release a new car called Honda Fitta in Europe a few years ago. Unfortunately for them "fitta" is slang for vagina in Norway. So they renamed it Honda Jazz for the European market instead.
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'Jazz' has connotations too. 'Jazz mags'...
 
Mythopoeika said:
'Jazz' has connotations too. 'Jazz mags'...
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Traditionally the music was associated with the racier side of town and some say the term originated in New Orleans brothels. Rock'n'Roll has also claimed a sexual derivation. There is no doubt that sexual double-talk was in operation. Anyone in doubt should hear Bessie Smith craving some of that "round steak" off her kitchen-man!

"Jazz Mags," I am pretty sure, were the invention of Viz magazine, presumably by association with "jizz?" It was widely used at a time when jazz music was hardly known.

How all this translates on "the Continent" - as we must get used to calling it again - I do not claim to know! :confused:
 
Jazz Mag was also the lead singer of Babylon Zoo.
 
OneWingedBird said:
I remember him being on Wogan and claiming he was bigger than Bowie... :rofl: way to end your career.
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I bought that 'Spaceman' CD. Might be a rarity in the future.
 
I've recently noticed on the roads a car called the Renault Kadjar which always makes me smile. Where I grew up a cadger was someone who would beg (annoyingly and repeatedly) for something:

Cadger: "Oh, go on, lend me 20p. Go on, go on, go on, I'll pay you back! It's only 20p..."
Me: "Oh okay, there you go you cadger"

I've only just realised that cadger probably has the same roots as "cajole" = "persuade (someone) to do something by sustained coaxing or flattery".

Which I further see comes from the French cajoler = "to cajole, wheedle, coax".
 
Mythopoeika said:
'Jazz' has connotations too. 'Jazz mags'...
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Wasn't there a magazine about jazz called The Jazz Mag which recently changed its name to something less suggestive? (digestive)
 
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You might be thinking of the Sussex Jazz Mag which eventually changed its name to simply SJM!.

I've posted a couple of covers somewhere in connection with summat or other.
 
Andy X said:
You might be thinking of the Sussex Jazz Mag which eventually changed its name to simply SJM!.

I've posted a couple of covers somewhere in connection with summat or other.
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That's the chap.
 
The dirty syncopated bastards >:-(

There's a glossy publication about drums, drummers and drumming called 'Rhythm' Magazine, but I doubt the publishers have ever watched an episode of Bottom.
 
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Mighty_Emperor said:
Coca-Cola in China:

www.snopes.com/cokelore/tadpole.asp
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The Chinese translation of 'coca cola' is actually ingenious, as it both sounds like 'coca cola' and means something related (it makes your mouth happy). Chinese names for international brands is quite an interesting subject actually: the only other one I can think of is BMW: 寶馬/宝马, 'bao ma' in mandarin, which sounds a tiny bit like 'beamer' or 'BMW' and literally means 'treasured horse'.
 
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Dundee United once signed a Portuguese footballer who was disappointed to be told by the club that he had to use his surname- Ferraz- on the back of his shirt, rather than the nickname he had used at all his previous clubs, which was Quim.
 
James_H said:
The Chinese translation of 'coca cola' is actually ingenious, as it both sounds like 'coca cola' and means something related (it makes your mouth happy). Chinese names for international brands is quite an interesting subject actually: the only other one I can think of is BMW: 寶馬/宝马, 'bao ma' in mandarin, which sounds a tiny bit like 'beamer' or 'BMW' and literally means 'treasured horse'.
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Treasured horse - I like that.:)
 
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