Apologies for the sudden attack of academic material in the last post, but I was (sad to say) genuinely excited by thinking through that bit 
of argument. Now, though, back to something much more frivolous. There is an interesting discussion (with illustrations) of oddly-named products from around the world to be found here. (Some people seem very keen on cataloguing this sort of thing.) The Iranian washing powder illustrated here is a good example. Pretty innocent fun, I suppose, but if you want to make something of it, lurking beneath the giggles is something interesting. It's not just about how a given word might have unfortunate connotations outside a particular country, but also it's about how the same sound or sounds may convey (or be intended to convey) a positive picture of a product in one country but also sound absurd or obscene in another. 'Barf', say, might be intended convey to an Iranian the power and brightness that 'Daz' is supposed to do for someone in the UK. (Although this is a pretty hit and miss business. How about 'Cillit Bang'?) It's also interesting to see how the connotations of words can change: one of the correspondents posts a picture of a box of Brain's Faggots. Good (well, perhaps) old-fashioned British food, but clearly something astonishing in particular to people from the US where the word does not refer to a form of pork and liver meatball in gravy (Mmmm!). It also turns out, by the way, that faggot consumption is, it seems, confined mainly to Wales, the West Country, and Midlands. You learn something new every day...
of argument. Now, though, back to something much more frivolous. There is an interesting discussion (with illustrations) of oddly-named products from around the world to be found here. (Some people seem very keen on cataloguing this sort of thing.) The Iranian washing powder illustrated here is a good example. Pretty innocent fun, I suppose, but if you want to make something of it, lurking beneath the giggles is something interesting. It's not just about how a given word might have unfortunate connotations outside a particular country, but also it's about how the same sound or sounds may convey (or be intended to convey) a positive picture of a product in one country but also sound absurd or obscene in another. 'Barf', say, might be intended convey to an Iranian the power and brightness that 'Daz' is supposed to do for someone in the UK. (Although this is a pretty hit and miss business. How about 'Cillit Bang'?) It's also interesting to see how the connotations of words can change: one of the correspondents posts a picture of a box of Brain's Faggots. Good (well, perhaps) old-fashioned British food, but clearly something astonishing in particular to people from the US where the word does not refer to a form of pork and liver meatball in gravy (Mmmm!). It also turns out, by the way, that faggot consumption is, it seems, confined mainly to Wales, the West Country, and Midlands. You learn something new every day...
1 comment:
Hm, we used to get faggots regularly for Saturday lunch in front of the telly. In Middlesbrough...
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