When launching its “Turn it loose” campaign in Spain, it appears executives forgot to ensure the translation would resonate with consumers. “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you” was translated to “It won’t leak in your pocket and impregnate you”.Īmerican beer maker Coors discovered that slang doesn’t always translate well. However, “embaraza” means “impregnate” in Spanish. “Embarrass” and “embaraza” do sound and look similar, therefore it was probably assumed that these words have the same meaning. When Parker Pen expanded to Mexico, they translated their slogan for the Spanish-speaking part of Mexico. Lumia can be translated to prostitute in Spanish. Nokia may not be the creme de la creme anymore when it comes to mobile phones, but back in the day their launch of the ‘Lumia’ phone line made quite the impression in Spanish-speaking countries. Although fartfull means “full speed” in Swedish, in the United Kingdom, the product was received with chuckles. IKEA introduced the “Fartfull workbench”. (If you speak American English and don’t know what that means, ask your friends from the UK, or ask Ted Lasso). Mitsubishi failed as well in not translating their product name by introducing the Pajero to Europe. Pinto is the Brazilian Portuguese word for “small genitals”. Fordįord made the mistake of not translating the name of the Ford Pinto in Brazil. KFCĬhina translated “Finger Licking Good” (KFC) into a somewhat cannibalistic message. We have selected some hilarious translation fails in advertising: 20 Funny Translation Fails in Advertising 1. Brands usually delegate or outsource translations, but this does not always go according to plan. As you’ll soon see, it’s quite important to check that your name, logo, campaigns and tagline translate well into other languages. Most brands coordinate their communication with the language of the countries in which they operate. That’s why we turned to Tim Rogers, creative director of Living Proof, to pinpoint every faux pas that could intensify frizz.Īside from her faux pas over the motherhood matter, relevant questions have been raised about her “embellished” CV and about her apparent flip-flops over European Union membership.Global brands operate internationally. Some of the potential faux pas on the list come from countries like Canada, Greece and the US. Examples of faux pasĮvery year numerous tourists fall foul of local customers failing to brush up on the cultural faux pas of the destinations they visit. However, we do make a distinction in the pronunciation-the singular faux pas is pronounced, but the plural faux pas is pronounced with a “z” at the end. Faux pas is how you spell both the plural and the singular form of the phrase. In the English language, we more or less take the page from the French’s book.
The plural is written the same as the singular, faux pas, and there’s no difference in pronunciation either. We know that faux pas, the singular form, is pronounced. Since faux pas is a French phrase, let’s see how the French pluralize it. But since that’s not always possible, there has to be a way to say “more than one faux pas”-it has to have a plural.
If you really have to make social blunders, it would be best to keep them to a minimum. This meaning isn’t so far removed from the original-“to make a breach of good manners,” or “to compromise one’s reputation.” The plural of faux pas : French So to say that someone made a faux pas is to say that someone made a social blunder. But in faux pas, it means false, and the whole phrase means “false step,” or “misstep.”įaux pas is most commonly used to denote an embarrassing mistake made in a social context. The two words that constitute the phrase are faux, which means “false,” and pas, which means “dance step.” Over time, faux has also acquired the meaning “fake,” which is the sense we’re familiar with from the phrase faux fur. Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly The origin and the meaning of faux pasįaux pas is a loan phrase from French that’s been used in English since the seventeenth century-the 1670s, to be more precise.
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