On Big TVs with Funny Names
Every now and then, a company comes up with a product name that sounds like an attempt to make a speech synthesiser make a weird noise.
There are plenty of examples, of course, but I’ve noticed over the years that major television manufacturers seem to feel compelled to, at one time or another, give their flagship product line a bizarre name.
Sony kicked it off with the “Kirara Basso” line, which launched in late 1991. I don’t know where they got the name from, but I presume someone got paid big bucks to come up with it. Search for “Kirara” today and you find a manga/anime two-tailed cat (the Wiki entry for that character contains some info on the name).
Not to be outdone, Panasonic came up with the “Gaoo” a couple of years later.
“Gaoo” does actually apparently convey a meaning somewhat analogous to “Picture King” in Japanese, but it’s still a stupid name for a product you intend to sell all over the world. English-speakers can’t even say it without looking as if they’re insulting someone.
And now Hitachi has “Wooo”. They’re very proud of their Wooo World.
Eh. Could be worse.
Following a from Wooo World suggests that there's at least one other Hitachi product unlikely to make it to Western shores without a minor name review.
Comment by Bedlam — November 6, 2006 @ 10:21 am
Following a link from Wooo World suggests that there's at least one other Hitachi product unlikely to make it to Western shores without a minor name review.
I apologise for the above post's abominable coding. It seems like a decade since I was last futzing with HTML in Notepad - the proper way.
Comment by Bedlam — November 6, 2006 @ 10:23 am
I just wish Nintendo had asked around a bit before renaming the entire sensible 'Revolution' console the
pissurinateWii.Comment by corinoco — November 6, 2006 @ 9:20 pm
Yes - I tried to think of something funny to say about the Wii here, but failed.
Now, of course, it occurs to me that the simple fact that you will soon be able to plug your Wii into your Wooo is more than funny enough.
Comment by Daniel Rutter — November 6, 2006 @ 10:27 pm