JERUSALEM: Meta- Facebook’s new name ridiculed by Hebrew speakers

JERUSALEM: Facebook’s announcement that it
is changing its name to Meta has caused quite the stir in Israel where the word
sounds like the Hebrew word for “dead”.

To be
precise, Meta is pronounced like the feminine form of the Hebrew word.

A number
of people have taken to Twitter to share their take on the name under the
hashtag #FacebookDead.

The
emergency rescue volunteers Zaka even got involved, telling their followers on
Twitter: “Don’t worry, we’re on it”.

Another
Twitter user said: “Thank you for providing all Hebrew speakers a good
reason to laugh.”

Facebook
isn’t the only company to be ridiculed over translations of its branding.

Here are
a few examples of when things got lost in translation.

‘Eat your fingers off’

When KFC
arrived in China during the 80s, its motto “finger lickin’ good”
didn’t exactly go down well with the locals.

The
motto’s translation in Mandarin was “eat your fingers off”.

But it
didn’t harm the company too much. KFC is one of the largest fast food chains in
the country.

‘Manure’

Rolls-Royce
changed the name of its Silver Mist car as mist translates as
“excrement” in German.

The car
was named Silver Shadow instead.

Meanwhile
when Nokia released its Lumia phone in 2011, it didn’t exactly get the reaction
it was expecting.

In
Spanish, Lumia is a synonym for a prostitute, although it apparently only appears in dialects with a heavy gypsy influence.

Honda
however had a lucky escape. It almost named its new car the Fitta, which is a
vulgar description for vagina in Swedish. It apparently did not translate well
in a number of other languages.

Apparently
the issue was detected early on and a decision was made to name the vehicle
Jazz in most countries.