The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #116859   Message #2512077
Posted By: Genie
10-Dec-08 - 05:49 PM
Thread Name: Mondegreens' cousins: Soramimis
Subject: Mondegreens' cousins: Soramimis
Wasn't sure whether to put this in Music or BS, but I think we'll find enough lyrical examples to make it fit the Music category.

I was wondering what you call it when a word or phrase means something quite different in another language than it does in the one in which it was written.

E.g., I understand that Chevy encountered problems marketing its "Nova" in Spanish speaking countries because "No va" in Spanish means "It doesn't go."

And unscented laundry products, even when marketed in the US, often have the Spanish phrase "Sin aroma" on the label.
Of course in English "sin aroma" conjures up all sorts of mental images that have nothing to do with being "unscented."

I'm wondering what song titles, lyric lines, or other phrases you folks can find that are "soramimis."