Horo Is Not Laputa
February 2nd, 2008
Yes, Horo really does mean something bad in Finnish. The term is a slang for slut, really, and is used as slang in insult.
At least so says the Finnish people I saw online.
It makes you wonder what other terms are out there which makes jibberish sense in one language but totally BAD in another. Maybe CLAMP and Ichiro Sakaki had the right idea and named their characters after known variables with corporate marketing that has done their homework…sometimes. And I say sometimes, hopefully as you know, with the allusion to the Chevy Nova. It does make a nice name for a fiery villain I guess.
Google, by the way, suggested an alternative. If you read about this unknown Balkan band they come up with an alternative etymology.
I’m sure it was completely intentional. I mean, she IS a slut, right? :)
Yeah, it’s true that it means that in finnish. Makes me grin when I hear or see it in blogs and in the anime. :)
I don’t understand your headline. Evidently “horo” is “la puta”, in Finnish?
Unlike dm, I saw what you did there, haha. I wonder why no one’s replied with “But what has this got to do with that anime by Ghibli about the castle in the sky?!”
The oft-repeated anecdote of the Chevy Nova selling poorly in Spanish-speaking countries because “no va” means “doesn’t go” in Spanish is actually 100% false. Snopes has the facts.
It’s actually not 100% false. Snopes has the facts. I’ll quote it for you:
“The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova’s name didn’t significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its primary Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela. (Its Venezuelan sales figures actually surpassed GM’s expectations.) The whole “Nova = “doesn’t go” tale was merely another in a long line of automotive jokes, like the ones about “Ford” being an acronym for “Fix or repair daily” or “Found on road dead” or “Fiat” being an acronym for “Fix it again, Tony!” These humorous inventions might adequately reflect the tellers’ feelings about the worthiness of various types of automobiles, but we don’t really expect that anyone ever refrained from buying a Ford because he actually believed they needed to be repaired on a daily basis.
Does Snopes talk about “Coke adds life!” ending up as “Coke brings your ancestors back from the dead”?