[85290] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: Nova
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Trimboli)
Fri Feb 13 08:17:16 2009
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:15:38 -0500
From: David Trimboli <david@trimboli.name>
In-reply-to: <49955647.16538c0a.52bd.ffff9c8a@mx.google.com>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
nahqun@gmail.com wrote:
> As I understand it, when Chevrolet introduced the Nova back in the
> day, it sold very well. They were then surprised when it did not sell
> as well in Mexico. It turned out that "No va" in Spanish means "No
> go". No one wanted to buy a car that claimed to not function.
I used to repeat this falsehood myself. It's not true.
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
> So I ask, as Klingon speakers, do you treat any words or brands this
> way? How has the language influenced you as a consumer?
>
> A rough example would be not purchasing a Saab. (Sab v. decline,
> deteriorate).
There are numerous examples of cross-language puns in Klingon. Most of
them were created intentionally by Marc Okrand, including {Sab}.
--
David
Stardate 9121.2
