Latvians clutch sides and cry 'fowl' over Microsoft Vista

[mdlbear]

Latvians laugh at Vista -- the Inquirer

Microsoft marketers are having a hell of a job establishing the super soaraway operating system in the pecking order in Latvia.

Apparently, whenever they ring up peddling Vista, Latvians burst out laughing because the name means "chicken" or "frumpy woman" in the local lingo.

(more here)

"Sure, the Microsoft people in the US cant be expected to understand all languages, but this really is funny," he said.

Arvis, an IT manager of a chain of casinos in Riga, was also chuckling about Microsoft Frump. Or Fowl. No, make that Vista.

(From a thread on groklaw.net)

Why am I suddenly reminded of the Chevy Nova ("No va" = "doesn't go" in Spanish)? Or, for that matter, Microsoft's Windows CE, universally pronounced "wince".

Comments

[meglimir.livejournal.com]

ROFL

And of course

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Fred's story about how the Mormon missionaries were laughed out of a remote region of Norway (where he was visiting relatives). The local dialect made the name of the group sound like "sheep droppings". NOW they introduce themselves as "Latter Day Saints".