Subject: Something was lost in the translation

 This interesting piece of news was sent to me by one of my
former staff members.  Remember when you travel to be careful.


 >Advertising blunders:

 1.  Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where
it was read as
 "Suffer from diarrhea".

  2.  Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick", a curling iron, into
German only to find out that "mist" is slang for manure. Not too many people
had use for the "manure stick".

 3.  Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the
following in an American campaign: Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.

 4.  In Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan
"finger-lickin' good" came out as "eat your fingers off".

 5.  The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem-Feeling
Free", was translated into the Japanese market as "When smoking Salem,
you will feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty".

 6.  When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used
the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on
the label.  Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures
on the label of what's inside, since most people can't read English.

 7.  Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the
name of a notorious porno magazine.

 8.  An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the
Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope"
(el Papa), the shirts read "I saw the potato" (la papa).

 9.  In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated
the name into "Schweppes Toilet Water".

 10. Pepsi's "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated
into "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave", in Chinese.

 11. We all know about GM's Chevy Nova meaning "it won't go" in
Spanish markets, but did you know that Ford had a similar problem in
Brazil with the Pinto? Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". 
Ford renamed the automobile Corcel, meaning "horse".

 12. Hunt-Wesson introduced Big John products in French Canada
as Gros Jos.  Later they found out that in slang it means "big breasts".

 13. Frank Perdue's chicken slogan, "it takes a strong man to
make a tender chicken" was translated into Spanish as "it takes an aroused
man to make a chicken affectionate".

 14. When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its
ads were supposed to have read, "it won't leak in your pocket and embarrass
you". Instead, the company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate)
meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you
pregnant".

 15. The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as
"Ke-kou-ke-la", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or
"female horse stuffed with wax", depending on
the dialect. Coke then researched  40,000 characters to find a
phonetic equivalent "ko-kou-ko-le", translating into "happiness in the mouth".

 16. A few years ago, in the American Midwest, some people
decided to show off their new "real" Mexican restaurant, named Chi-chi's to some
visiting Californians. Upon seeing the name on the marquis, the Californians
started to laugh.  When asked why they were laughing, they explained that
in Mexican Spanish, "chi-chi's" literally means "titties."

 17. Probably the most famous of all is John Kennedy's
announcement to the people of Berlin, "Ich bin ein Berliner!" JFK thought he
said, "I am a citizen of Berlin!"  What he really said was, "I am a jelly
doughnut!" ("Berliner" is German for "jelly doughnut".)<