About seven years ago, while driving through Almaty, the main city of Kazakhstan, The Woman Warrior and I pulled up next to a bus with a huge sign advertising, in shades of Linda Blair-green, a laundry detergent called Barf. Our driver nodded sagely as we rocked with laughter. “Americans always laugh at that,” he said, in a voice later echoed with such uncanny accuracy by Viggo Mortsensen in the film Eastern Promises that I can’t help thinking Mortsensen hired the guy to help with his Russian accent.
Barf is only the beginning of the unfortunately named overseas products on sale right now. From the French drink Pschitt to the Super Osama Kulfa Balls available in China, there’s enough to provide refreshments for a very lowbrow/highbrow kind of party. Be sure to read the comments: the humor cuts across other language barriers as well.
And just in case that video clip above didn’t sate your appetite, here’s another dose of . . . Barf:
March 18, 2009 at 6:10 am
[...] The Iffy Channel March 18, 2009 It appears the marketing people over at the Sci-Fi Channel didn’t do enough research when they came up with the channel’s new moniker. Oh well. They probably weren’t counting on the Polish market, anyway. But if they decide to soldier on, they’ll simply be joining the already long list of companies and brands with names that don’t travel well. [...]