All The Tropes

Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle (view source)

Revision as of 13:54, 26 January 2014

116 bytes removed ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
m (Mass update links)
m (Mass update links)
Line 18:
* Kaede's [[Instant Fanclub]] in ''[[Shuffle]]!'' is called Kitto Kitto Kaede, or KKK. The English dub changes this to Knights of Kissing Kaede to preserve the [[Added Alliterative Appeal]] of all the fanclub names -- but every time the club is mentioned, someone notes that they're "not the guys with the sheets".
* [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s 1986 film ''Laputa: [[Castle in The Sky]]'' had its first word dropped for releases in Spanish-speaking locales and anywhere near them, as ''la puta'' is Spanish for "the bitch" or "the whore." However, the name "Laputa" is a reference to a country in Jonathan Swift's [[Gullivers Travels]], and Swift almost certainly was [[Double Entendre|aware of the implication]].
** Swift used the name as a [[Shout -Out]] to a comment from Martin Luther referring to Reason as a "whore" (in the sense that one can manipulate logic to reach a desired conclusion).
** For the same reason, this is why "Laputa" is the [[Freud Was Right|target to be bombed]] in ''[[Doctor Strangelove]]''.
** And to think it could have been prevented if it had been transliterated as "Rapyuta".
Line 36:
** In a similar vein, a German frozen food company launched a product named after Barack Obama following the 2008 elections. The actual food item being named after the new President? [http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,612684,00.html Fried chicken.]
* Recently an [http://www.news.com.au/national/australian-kfc-ad-labelled-racist-by-us-commentators/story-e6frfkvr-1225816754881 Australian KFC ad] caused a bit of a kerfluffle in the United States. It showed an awkward white Australian fan surrounded by hundreds of cheering black West Indies fans (who were the upcoming opposition) before he offered them all fried chicken. The ad was from a series of "cricket survival guide" ads showing the Australian solving various problems with KFC so he could enjoy the cricket. So the Australian train of thought was simple - being surrounded by supporters of the opposing team is awkward, [[Tastes Like Friendship|offer KFC, everyone has a good time]]. When the ad was leaked internationally, American commentators saw a white guy placating scary black people with fried chicken, and called racism. This confused the Australians, since the "black people like fried chicken" stereotype is not widespread there.
* Australia's "[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_bloody_hell_are_you:Where the bloody hell are you|So where the bloody hell are you?]]" tourism campaign. The British did not like the word "bloody". The Canadians did not like the word "hell". The Singaporeans did not like either. Overlaps with [[Did Not Do the Bloody Research]], as "bloody hell" is a fairly mild oath in Australia.
 
== Literature ==
Line 45:
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' episodes "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? I & II" have a character who {{spoiler|chooses to switch fates with Sarah Jane, the fate? Drowning (or possibly from the impact from falling from a pier into the sea, it's not clear)}}. Her name was Andrea Yates, which is the same name as that of [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Yates:Andrea Yates|an American woman who drowned her own children]]. Several American fans winced and called this distasteful on the [[Outpost Gallifrey]] forums; but it was very unlikely intentional because the Andrea Yates case was hardly widely known in the UK.
* Reversing the countries (though it wouldn't have caused offence but laughter), the captain of the ''[[Star Trek Enterprise|USS Enterprise NX-01]]'' was almost called [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Archer:Jeffrey Archer|Jeffrey Archer]] until UK fans pointed out it wasn't quite the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|straight-arrow]] name they had in mind.
* A first season episode of ''[[Mork and Mindy]]'' was heavily censored when it was first run in the UK because of a character named Arnold '''Wanker'''. Oops.
** UK viewers still titter at the closing credits of any Buffy episode where Thomas Wanker is listed as the composer. (In the States, it's the word "titter" that would cause... giggles.)
* The 1982 BBC adaptation of ''[[Shakespeare|The Merry Wives of Windsor]]'' featured fairy disguises that looked remarkably like Ku Klux Klan costumes.
* ''[[Due South]]'' may have suffered in the eyes of British viewers because the Mountie's hot boss had the same name as the most hated (and admired; being divisive was actually part of her ''policy'') woman in recent British history.
* In ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' when the Doctor said "You see what I mean? Domestic!" in response to Mickey several American fans expressed disgust at his apparent racism; however this was misunderstanding of the language. In the UK "Domestic" isn't really used to mean "Domestic servant", but rather "Domestic argument" or in this case "mundane and boring". Not that it's used that way very often in most parts of the US, either.
* Played with in an episode of ''[[30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]'' in which Jack struggles to come up with a name for a mini-microwave which is not offensive in any language.
{{quote| '''Jack''': Every one of the names we came up with was offensive in some language, including English, Frank.<br />
Line 92:
* IKEA's Gutvik bed was named after a town in Sweden, but German speakers were somewhat amused. ("Gut Fick" is German for "good fuck". That it was a children's bed made this all the more unfortunate.)
** Another IKEA example: The storage box Knep (meaning 'trick' in Swedish) caused quite a few giggles in neighboring Denmark, since the name literally means 'fuck' in Danish.
*** This is one of many jokes that hinge on the differences between Swedish and Danish, which are so close together that we can't decide whether they go in [[In My Language, That Sounds Like...]] or [[Separated By a Common Language]].
** A bin full of "Trampa" ("crap" in Portuguese, "tread" in Swedish) doormats were spotted in an IKEA store. Said doormats were even brown. Whether they are still being sold remains unknown, though.
* Woolworths put a children's bunk-bed for sale on their website under the name [[Lolita]], and seemed genuinely baffled that people didn't take it well. Between that and Zyklon, you'd think someone would at least run the names through Google.
Line 105:
* There is a light bulb manufacturer named Osram, which unfortunately means "I will shit [on something]" in Polish.
* As noted on the [[Bite the Wax Tadpole]] page, a German company released an [[MP 3]] player called the "i.Beat," in a range of colors with [[Xtreme Kool Letterz]]. The black one was labeled "Blaxx," making the full name "i.Beat Blaxx." This naturally caused a stir among American observers over the possible racial connotations of the name.
* English dialect case: [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolux#Slogan |"Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."]] Though this bit of [[Double Entendre]] was intentional.
** [http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_MPVFXHtCKsA/Suy2jBU928I/AAAAAAAAAoc/fe50Kwah_f8/s400/FILE0905.JPG Similarly...]
* The American [[Sci Fi Channel]] changed their name to [[Sy Fy]], which in Polish slang is a colloquialism for syphilis and is also used as an derogatory indicator of extremely low quality, an equivalent to English 'crap'.
** Something not at all lost on Americans who dislike the change, some of whom have taken to calling it the "Syphilis Channel".
* The webpages of a woman named [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziva_Kunda:Ziva Kunda|Ziva Kunda]] were popular amongst Czech and Slovak teenagers, as her name translates to "a living cunt".
* In Ukraine there was a beverage that was advertised as 'Blue Water' in English without any further translation, this however sounds very much like 'Blevota' which means Puke. Everyone couldn't stop laughing over signs and advertisements telling you to "Drink refreshing puke!" The company soon changed their labels to 'Water Blue'.
 
Line 115:
[[Category:Unexpected Reactions to This Index]]
[[Category:Cross Cultural Kerfluffle]]
[[Category:Trope]]
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/608542"