Copied without permission from an article by Richard Leder.

The original ad slogan that the Swedes packaged for their Electrolux vacuum cleaner was "Nothing Sucks Like Electrolux!"

In Seoul, South Korea, the government received so many complaints about taxi drivers that it had to set up a telephone hotline for passenger who encountered rudeness or dangerous driving. To advise customers of this service, a sign was posted on the inside rear door notifying English-speaking passengers of the availability of an "Intercourse Discomfort Report Center."

We chuckle at such clumsy translations, yet we don't realize how equally susceptible are we English speakers and writers. Despite endless boardroom cogitation, many a multi-national corporation has ended up with its brand name or slogan on its face. Global slip-ups remind us that few words and idioms can be literally translated.

More than others, the automobile industry seems to be prone to linguistic accidents. The classic story of vehicular misnaming is associated with General Motors. As the literal translation of the Nova to Spanish means "star," why then, GM wanted to know were Hispanic Chevrolet dealerships so unaccommodating to this model? That's because when spoken aloud, Nova sounds like no va -- which means "It doesn't go." GM changed the name to Caribe.

Ford Motor Company's Caliente turned out to mean "streetwalker" in Mexico. Ford came up with a second flat tire in Japan, where Cortina translated as "jalopy." The company discovered that a truck model it called Fiera means "ugly old woman" in Spanish. As if this was not enough, it turns out that Pinto is a slang term meaning "small mail appendage."

Even the luxurious Rolls Royce company found out the hard way that in German, Silver Mist means "human waste."

Here are a dozen more classic cross-border marketing misfortunes:

The colas of the world have been shaken up explosively by mistranslation. When Pepsi-Cola invaded the huge Chinese and German markets, the effort initially fizzled. The product's slogan, "Come alive with the Pepsi generation," was rendered (or should I say rent?) into Chinese as "Pepsi brings back your dead ancestors" and into German as "Come out of the grave with Pepsi." Coca-Cola also discovered in Taiwan that the Chinese characters chosen to sound like its name mean "Bite the Wax Tadpole." Fresca's brand name fizzled in Mexico, where its name turned out to be slang for "lesbian."

Perdue Chicken's slogan "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" read, in Spanish, "It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate."

Braniff Air Lines, promoting its comfortable leather seats, used the headline "Sentado en cuero," which was interpreted as "Sit naked."

A beer company slogan "Turn it loose" became in Spanish, equivalent to "Suffer from diarrhea."

3M translated its Scotch tape slogan, "Sticks like crazy," into Japanese and came up with a sticky problem. The slogan translated literally into Japanese as "It sticks foolishly."

The Kellogg Company encountered a problem when it introduced its Bran Buds to Sweden. The name translates loosely into Swedish as "Burnt Farmer."

Vicks had to change its product name to Wicks before entering the German market when it was discovered that Vicks sounded like a German expletive.

Colgate Palmolive had to discard Cue as the name for its toothpaste in France. Cue is the name of a widely circulated French pornographic magazine.

Even the wrong nonverbal cue can wreak havoc with a product's reception in a far-off land:

Gerber Baby Food initially packaged their African product just the same as in the U.S. -- with a cute baby picture on the jar. They didn't realize that because so many Africans cannot read, nearly all packaged products sold in Africa carry pictures of what is inside. Pureed baby -- horrors!

Muslims in Bangladesh rioted and ransacked Thom McAnn stores when they mistook company's logo on some sandals for the Arabic letters for Allah. One person was killed and 50 people were injured before the melee ended.

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