Unfortunate Names

[4mastacker]

............Wasn't there a chap called Flt Lt Flight at Leuchars many years ago. OC GD or STN PRO or something?....................

Yup! Quite a nice bloke.

The bloke in charge of the RM bootys at Wittering was Colour Sergeant Sergeant. For some reason, nobody took the pi$$.

I have come to the conclusion that the name Jeremy has unfortunate connotations.

After a certain politician allegedly tried to have his boyfriend topped, we called our living room pouffe 'Jeremy'.

[Capetonian]

IMG-20190215-WA0005.jpg (33.14 KiB) Viewed 600 times

[Hydromet]

My now retired GP was Jeremy. Nice bloke, but I guess in every class, someone has to come last.

[tango15]

In conversation with a former colleague earlier today, I was reminded for no particular reason, of a furore that erupted in what is known as the Southern Cone of South America (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay), when Mitsubishi introduced their Pajero model, (marketed in the UK as the Shogun). Thinking that this would be ideal for the local terrain, the Japanese were somewhat surprised that it wasn't selling very well. Curious to discover the reason for the sluggish sales, several of Mitsubishi's senior beings made the long trip to Argentina (their biggest potential market), to find out why. After some discussion, the Argentinian dealers had to make an embarrassing explanation: the word Pajero in that part of the world means w*nker. Further discussions took place, following which it was decided that the name would be changed to Montero (hunter), and that free badges would be offered to all those who had already purchased the vehicle. Apparently, sales increased rapidly after this intervention.

Vauxhall also made a fundamental error with the Nova. Ironically, it was manufactured in Spain, and some bright spark in Luton, presumably thought it would be clever to use what they believed was a Spanish word to market it. The problem was, that 'No vai' in Spanish means 'No go' and can easily sound like nova when spoken in some Spanish accents.
'Nueva' is the word for new in Spanish, but it is 'Nova' in Portuguese, though the car never sold there well, either. Most of the equivalent models used in Continental Europe were produced by Opel. The whole story is disputed by Snopes, but unsurprisingly, they put a US/Latin American slant on the whole story. I was originally told this story by a Spaniard.

Perhaps the biggest mistake of all though was made by Rolls-Royce of all people. When planning to call their latest model Silver Mist, it was pointed out that it would not sell in Germany, where their previous models had sold well. Further investigations revealed the news that the German word for sh*t is mist. Thus the Silver Shadow was born...

https://www.driving.co.uk/news/test-you ... lver-mist/

Small wonder then, that today so many cars carry anodyne names.

[Boac]

anodyne names

Yes, but I don't think the Austin Anodyne would have sold well, do you? As a better idea, the Austin Anode might have had a more positive effect..............

[G-CPTN]

Mother-in-law was party raised in Germany and was teaching German students who had for some reason been absent.
On their return she addressed them with "Sie haben viel gemissed", which I believe translates as "You have sh itt ed a lot."

[Karearea]

...

Vauxhall also made a fundamental error with the Nova. Ironically, it was manufactured in Spain, and some bright spark in Luton, presumably thought it would be clever to use what they believed was a Spanish word to market it. The problem was, that 'No vai' in Spanish means 'No go' and can easily sound like nova when spoken in some Spanish accents.
'Nueva' is the word for new in Spanish, but it is 'Nova' in Portuguese, though the car never sold there well, either. Most of the equivalent models used in Continental Europe were produced by Opel. The whole story is disputed by Snopes, but unsurprisingly, they put a US/Latin American slant on the whole story. I was originally told this story by a Spaniard.
...

I heard in the mid 1980s about this being the reason the Chevy Nova had not sold well in Central and South America.

[tango15]

...

Vauxhall also made a fundamental error with the Nova. Ironically, it was manufactured in Spain, and some bright spark in Luton, presumably thought it would be clever to use what they believed was a Spanish word to market it. The problem was, that 'No vai' in Spanish means 'No go' and can easily sound like nova when spoken in some Spanish accents.
'Nueva' is the word for new in Spanish, but it is 'Nova' in Portuguese, though the car never sold there well, either. Most of the equivalent models used in Continental Europe were produced by Opel. The whole story is disputed by Snopes, but unsurprisingly, they put a US/Latin American slant on the whole story. I was originally told this story by a Spaniard.
...

I heard in the mid 1980s about this being the reason the Chevy Nova had not sold well in Central and South America.

Yes, I spent a lot of time there during the 80s and hired cars from time to time, but I don't remember hiring - or even seeing - a Nova!

[G-CPTN]

There was definitely a Vauxhall Nova.

https://www.manorparkclassics.com/aucti ... t=895&sd=1

[OFSO]

Mitsubishi Pajero.

"Pajero" means a foolish fellow in Spanish, colloquially, a wanker. Nobody wanted to drive a Mitsubishi Wanker.

[k3k3]

There was definitely a Vauxhall Nova.

https://www.manorparkclassics.com/aucti ... t=895&sd=1

The same car was called an Opel Corsa in its homeland, fairly obvious why the name was changed for the English speaking world.

[llondel]

A previous employer was rebranding and had come down to a choice of a couple of names. Then it was reduced to one after it was discovered that the other sounded a lot like the Japanese word for a scrotum. We did do business in Japan at the time, so this was relevant.

[Hydromet]

A previous employer was rebranding and had come down to a choice of a couple of names. Then it was reduced to one after it was discovered that the other sounded a lot like the Japanese word for a scrotum. We did do business in Japan at the time, so this was relevant.

Someone has to say it - what a load of bollocks.

[OneHungLow]

My university acquaintance Vince Uren who used to get "very pissed off" when you laughed at his name.

I knew a Phoebe at UCT who saw me as a prospective ballroom dancing partner and more besides. I used to duck and hide when I saw her coming.

[tango15]

I may have told this tale before - please forgive me if I have.
My first job after leaving school was with a large shipping company. Lots of paperwork, Bills of Lading, Manifests, General Declarations, etc. Most of this could be signed off by departmental managers, but some of the more serious stuff involving money had to be signed off by the beancounters. There were two major signatories, one, a Welshman called Cyril Evans, (known in the office as Evans the pen), who was always obliging and almost always in his office. His boss was called Bill Anker, who apart from the punning possibilities, it being a shipping company, had one major problem, as you will have guessed by now. Not unnaturally, he was reluctant to sign anything, but one day, Cyril Evans was off, and we had to quickly issue a cheque for the wharfage bill for one of the ships, and Bill was the only one who could sign it. I went into his office with the paperwork, and he asked what it was. I explained and he told me to put it in the In Tray. I politely reminded him that we needed the cheque before the office closed, and he said he would sign it. There was much anticipation in the office, because, unsurprisingly, he very rarely signed anything. He was a grumpy old bugger and no-one liked dealing with him if they could avoid it. Five o'clock came and went, and so did Bill. I went into this office and found the cheque in the Out Tray, duly signed. Some of the office staff worked until six, so they quickly gathered around to view the signature. There was much sniggering, and one of the lads suggested that we get it photocopied and kept a copy hidden in the office. We didn't have a photocopier, (they were quite rare in those days), but there was a shop nearby that did have one and they were open late, so on the way to the Dock Board offices, I popped in and had a photocopy made. Cue further sniggering in the shop.
I left the company (of my own volition) not long after that, and I often wonder what became of Exhibit No. 1, as we used to call it.

I later learned that he was related to a famous Scottish family, (although he did not speak with a Scottish accent), who were very wealthy in their own right.

[tango15]

One day the boss called me into his office, and asked if I would help out with the roll-out of a new series 125 bizjet at Chester. It seems that we were sending a 748 down to Gatwick to pick up a party of journalists and take them to the factory at Chester for the day. We flew down to Gatwick the previous evening and were billeted in the hotel which used to overlook the runway in those days, the name of which escapes me now, but was infamous at the time (mid-1980s) as a hang-out for aircrew. We formed an escape committee and hired a taxi to take us to Ye Olde Six Bells in Horley, where a very pleasant evening was had. Up to Chester the next day with the journalists and a senior being from BAe by the name of John Glasscock. Yours truly had been put in charge of arrangements, including counting them all out and counting them all back.
The roll-out was successful, many rolls of film were consumed and the champagne was put on ice by our two hosties. Everyone returned to the aircraft with the exception of John Glasscock. Thinking that he had perhaps stayed on and was in a meeting, I checked with reception, who told me that he was in the lounge watching the Cheltenham Gold Cup, or some similar equine contest, so I went to find him - no sign. Checked a few other likely offices, but he was nowhere to be found. I went back on board to tell the captain that we were missing an important pax, and he agreed to wait another ten minutes. On the way back through the cabin, I spotted John Glasscock, did a head count, and confirmed to the flight deck that everyone was on board. I went back to the galley to tell the hosties he was on board, but how had they missed him?
They said they'd been busy prepping the champagne and nibbles and he must have sneaked on board while they were busy. My response was, "Well with a name like that, you should have seen him coming." There was much giggling in the galley back to Gatwick. Some years later, I heard that the story had reached John Glasscock's ears and was received in very good humour.

[Boac]

Bill Anker

You have to wonder why his parents hated him so much at the Christening. Like Richard Head (RAF Herc driver).