Accidentally Funny
Yawn, trade secrets story about Thomas' English muffins had a funny in it -- the name of the parent company. Via USA Today, an AP story by Maryclaire Dale:
Chris Botticella of Trabuco Canyon, Calif., remains barred from starting the Hostess job while a trade-secret lawsuit filed by Thomas' parent company, Bimbo Bakeries USA, plays out.Bimbo Bakeries? If I started one, that's what I'd call it. At one point, I wanted to make a business card, "Amy Alkon, intellibimbo."
via Suki
Growing up there was a place called Bimbo's...Bimbo was an old, fat Italian man who had immigrated at set up this restaurant/bar. It was nothing but a hole in the wall but it had been there forever. Nothing but a door with a neon sign over it. I guess many guys over the years went in there thinking it was a strip club.
The Former Banker at July 31, 2010 12:12 AM
Bimbo is all over Mexico City. I smiled every time I saw one of their trucks going by!
Not all words in other languages are innocuous when translated to another. One famous case of this is the gas station chain, Esso. We still have them here in Canada but I believe they're all gone from America, right?
The reason, as it was told to me was because Esso decided to expand into Japan, but they never did any sort of check into whether that word meant something over there. Apparently it did. It phonetically sounds like "stalled car" when pronounced in Japanese. More here
Robert W. (Vancouver) at July 31, 2010 12:30 AM
You want to see something funny?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-07-28-doomsday28_ST_N.htm?csp=obnetwork
End of the world insurance.
Given the billion dollar biodome never worked how do they expect these thing to work?
And who are you going to sue for your refund if it doesnt work, or the guards to the bigger facilites wont let you in?
And its not like any of the worlds governments would advertise a world killing asteroid or comet as doing so would lead to the break down of society long before it ever hit
lujlp at July 31, 2010 1:41 AM
BImbo is based in mexico, no? We have lots of the Bimbo pastries here in TX grocery stores, with Bimbo in huge letters on the wrapping.
momof4 at July 31, 2010 4:44 AM
Bimbo is based out of Mexico, and they pronounce it "Beembo." I laughed, too, when I saw it show up at the grocery where I work:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0scmcX5Ek1qbzfzeo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1280665764&Signature=d2pXet5I%2Bgd6J1SbeNnMbSGiEys%3D
I am told it is the "Hostess" of Mexico.
Lisa at July 31, 2010 5:31 AM
Yeah, we see Bimbo snax and pastries in the convenience stores in Virginia, too. The mascot is a cute little bear. In Japanese, by the way, bimboh means "poor."
Read a story some years ago, I think in one of the Bathroom Readers, about an immigrant British baker many years ago who started selling little rolls similar to those he remembered from England. He marketed them as English muffins, knowing that Americans would scarf up anything advertised as being English or European. His plan worked. The baker's name, of course, was Mr. Thomas.
old rpm daddy at July 31, 2010 5:47 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/31/accidentally_fu.html#comment-1738589">comment from LisaYou can call me the Intellibeeembo. It sounds cuter.
Amy Alkon at July 31, 2010 5:59 AM
Thanks for the mention Amy!
Suki at July 31, 2010 6:04 AM
Linked back to you here :)
Suki at July 31, 2010 6:16 AM
IIRC when CocaCola translated their name phonetically into japanese, the Kanji they used meant "bite the wax tadpole." And of course the Nova car didn't sell to well in Mexico. Who would want to buy a "no va" (doesn't go)?
Elle at July 31, 2010 9:08 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/07/31/accidentally_fu.html#comment-1738607">comment from Elle"Bite the wax tadpole"? I like that.
Amy Alkon at July 31, 2010 9:26 AM
The Nova story is an urban legend:
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
Conan the Grammarian at July 31, 2010 10:40 AM
Awwww, I hate it when I find out I've been disseminating urban legends. Thanks Conan
Elle at July 31, 2010 11:25 AM
The tadpole thing was in Chinese. The Japanese transliterate everything in katakana syllabary not kanji, so it comes out pretty close as 'Koka Ko-ra'. Other names are not so fortunate....McDonald's is 'Macu-Donarudo':-D
crella at July 31, 2010 2:58 PM
And btw, 'bimbo' in Japanese, is a non-PC word meaning 'poor'.
crella at July 31, 2010 3:01 PM
they used meant "bite the wax tadpole."
Elle,
It was Chinese and the unofficial translations may have been that. Coke finally got a handle on it.
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tadpole.asp
Jim P. at July 31, 2010 3:43 PM
Aww, I'm sorry to hear that the nova thing was an urban legend. It was a cute story.
Dave Barry wrote a funny article about the "bite the wax tadpole" thing.
Kris L at July 31, 2010 3:51 PM
jaja al principio esos certainly no child , policias, son seguratas, estan durante Canary Warf que es PROPIEDAD PRIVADA ymca no dejan filmar o protestar sin permiso.
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