| steve6375
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| 621464. Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:19 pm |
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In 1977 Commodore released the first complete home computer, the Personal Electronic Transactor or PET. Many thousands were sold worldwide but not in Germany. Commodore realised that PET in German meant 'fart'!
Three years later Commodore introduced the Vic-20 - the first computer to sell more than a million - except in Germany again! This time Commodore quickly realised their mistake and changed the name to VC-20 in Germany - when pronounced by a German, Vic sounded like the german word for 'f**k'.
How true this is I am not sure, but there are many references to this on the internet and I heard the story around 1980. |
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| Sophie.A
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| 621472. Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:44 pm |
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| steve6375 wrote: | | Commodore realised that PET in German meant 'fart'! |
Pet is French, not German, for “fart”. The German word for a fart would be Pup.
The second story is more plausible as the German word for the f-word (as a verb) is ficken (and Germans pronounce the letter “v” as /f/). |
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| Rudolph Hucker
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| 621473. Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:56 pm |
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| Whilst people are in correcting mode, it's a Toyota not a Mazda and the model in question is an MR2, not an M2R. |
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| suze
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| 621483. Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:06 pm |
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| And actually, Toyota did realise on time, and avoided using the name "emme erre deux" in France - it's just called the MR there. |
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| Rudolph Hucker
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| 621488. Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:41 pm |
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Can any of the cunning little linguists on here shed light on the Mitsubishi version of the MR2 story?
According to various unimpeachable sources down the pub, the reason we have a 4WD monstrosity called a Shogun defiling our streets is that its original asian name, Pajero, means wanker in Spanish.
There may be no truth at all in this and the rumour may have started by the frequency with which the word wanker was heard to be uttered by people commenting upon the social attributes of those owner/drivers of said behemoths. |
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| suze
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| 621490. Sat Oct 03, 2009 8:07 pm |
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| It's true - see post 387318. |
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| Sophie.A
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| 621510. Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:47 pm |
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| Rudolph Hucker wrote: | | Whilst people are in correcting mode, it's a Toyota not a Mazda and the model in question is an MR2, not an M2R. |
And the QI episode in which this is featured is not in the E Series but the A Series.  |
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| steve6375
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| 621542. Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:58 am |
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Thanks for the corrections! The story probably has changed in my head slightly over the years as the grey cells slowly die off!
Just change 'Germany' to 'France' and pretend this post is in the A Series forum. I still think it is an amusing story... |
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| PDR
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| 621558. Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:13 am |
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...and then there was the Opel Ascona which I understand in Portugal refers to the external portion of the female reproductive system (or a BMW driver, which is much the same thing).
Also the simple VW Golf which was sold in the USA as the "Rabbit", without realising that a "Rabbit car" in the USA is the friday-afternoon special (the one that was assembled after a liquid lunch, and has dozens of incorrectly assembled, loose or missing parts).
PDR |
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| Sophie.A
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| 621561. Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:29 am |
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| steve6375 wrote: | Thanks for the corrections! The story probably has changed in my head slightly over the years as the grey cells slowly die off!
Just change 'Germany' to 'France' and pretend this post is in the A Series forum. I still think it is an amusing story... |
No problem. Welcome to forums.  |
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| GL5
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| 621602. Sun Oct 04, 2009 8:32 am |
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| Didn't the French national bank once try to open a branch in an area of England with a major ethnic community? Then they realized that the abbreviation of the Banque National de Paris was "BNP". |
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| Davini994
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| 621646. Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:03 am |
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This thread reminds me of the joke about the man with a long face that walks into the bar and sees a lamp on the table. So he asks the barman why it's there and he says the genie's not not got very good hearing!
No wait, that's not right. There's a small penis on the bar, and the man says ouch. That's it, I think.
;) |
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| PDR
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| 621709. Sun Oct 04, 2009 1:42 pm |
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"I say, I say, I say - my dog smells terrible..."
"I say, I say, I say - my wife's gone top Jamaica..."
Now, about thay conveyor belt runway...
PDR |
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