buick masturbation, renamed!

[arista5]

'Masturbation' car to be renamed

REUTERS[ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2003 09:52:05 AM ]

MAKUHARI: General Motors will rename its Buick LaCrosse in Canada because the name for the car is slang for masturbation in Quebec, embarrassed officials with the US automaker say.

GM officials, who declined to be named, said on Thursday it had been unaware that LaCrosse was a term for self-gratification among teenagers in French-speaking Quebec.

GM officials in Canada are working on a new name for the car, a sedan that will go on sale next year to replace the Buick Regal.

The mix-up is reminiscent of another GM vehicle with an unfortunate name. In the 1970s, GM exported its Chevrolet Nova to Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, only to be told that Nova translated into "doesn't go".

Despite the name, and contrary to popular folklore, the car sold well.

 

[TylerDurden]

OMG, who TF cares what the slang would be????

and here we are, as Americans bowing down to another country cause we dont want to piss em off....hell it IS JUST canada and not even the whole at that, its the french part, who most of canada is trying to get rid of anyway right?

i just dont get it, GM needs to get their head out of their ass and build/sell/name cool cars or they will go under IMO.

 

[MeanBuicks]

I just read that story on Compuserve.

I like this part. Aparently, there's more to the word.

GM Canada spokesman Stew Low told the La Crosse Tribune in Wisconsin last Friday that in Quebec youth culture the word is a new slang term

``(It) means a couple of things, either to masturbate or 'I just got screwed,' or 'I just got taken''' Low told the newspaper in Saturday's copyright editions. ``People of our age wouldn't even think twice about (the word.)''

Geeze! Any one of those connotations spells doom for that name.

 

[salvageV6]

Are French speaking teenagers in Quebec a demographic target for this car? NOOOOOO.

Then I say F$*& them. That would be in English too.

I'd be more worried to make sure the car came out like the Show Car La Crosse that drew tons of onlookers at the auto shows.
If not the name might be fitting anyway.

Hopefully it will only be renamed in Quebec.

 

[GN One Day...]

GM marketing executives in Canada announced that the Canadian version will be dubbed the Buick Chachi, after learning of the successful premier of the early 80's sitcom "Joanie Loves Chachi"...

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Why not just keep the Regal name?? Why even rename it?

 

[Granny 2]

Old News

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=698278#post698278

 

[MeanBuicks]

Buick's certainly not the only one to have troubles...

Another article about this mentioned some other vehicle naming conflicts:

More recently, Mitsubishi had to change the name of its Pajero model in Spanish speaking countries, where the word is a slang term for "masturbator".

While Toyota's Fiera proved controversial in Puerto Rico, where fiera translated to "ugly old woman".

And Ford didn't have the reception it expected in Brazil when their Pinto car flopped.

They then discovered that in Brazilian Portuguese slang, pinto means "small penis".

Yet another article mentions the Nova too.

The mix-up is reminiscent of another GM vehicle with an unfortunate name. In the 1970s, GM exported its Chevrolet Nova to Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, only to be told that Nova translated into "doesn't go". Despite the name, and contrary to popular folklore, the car sold well.

Let's hear it for a Pinto LaCrosse.

 

[gn85]

More recently, Mitsubishi had to change the name of its Pajero model in Spanish speaking countries, where the word is a slang term for "masturbator".

They have the Mistubishi Pajero here... good thing I don't rent one and drive to Spain!

 

[2quiktocare]

WOW, did anyone worry about a whole class of cars being called econo box's? In Southern California, a big market for this type car that means a cheap whore. Hummmmmmm? Mark



P.s. Just ask someone from Mexico what Vega is in slang there.