Live data from Hacker News

Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

dafacto.com

31–40 of 58 posts

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#31
Yesterday I mentioned that app to my work colleagues (here in Brazil), all they said was: "Now I can put my finger on your Rego and open it. Also, we will see all your photos stored in Rego, and all your shared anotations".

Everyone laughed so hard that the app itself didn't matter anymore.

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#32
post #16

The video is currently not loading for me, so the below is just an observation on the linguistics of these situations not a troll to downgrade the humor contained herein. This isn't the first time a brand has had to rethink its name to adjust to the local language. The Ford Pinto was re-dubbed when it entered Brazil because pinto in Portuguese is a word reserved for the male anatomy. It also happens the other way: th…

The Chevy Nova is another oft-cited example; "No va" means "it doesn't go" in Spanish.

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#33
post #16

The video is currently not loading for me, so the below is just an observation on the linguistics of these situations not a troll to downgrade the humor contained herein. This isn't the first time a brand has had to rethink its name to adjust to the local language. The Ford Pinto was re-dubbed when it entered Brazil because pinto in Portuguese is a word reserved for the male anatomy. It also happens the other way: th…

The Chevy Nova is another oft-cited example; "No va" means "it doesn't go" in Spanish.

That story is apocryphal[1]. To use the example Snopes used, "nova" in Spanish doesn't mean "doesn't go" any more than "notable" means "no table" in English.

[1]: http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#34
That's a brilliant idea. I mean simply bookmarking locations. It's also a brilliant idea to go viral in a large industrial country because of Beavis and Butthead aesthetics. The problem is, if I did that on purpose, my productivity would go down just because of the giggling.

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#36
post #16

The video is currently not loading for me, so the below is just an observation on the linguistics of these situations not a troll to downgrade the humor contained herein. This isn't the first time a brand has had to rethink its name to adjust to the local language. The Ford Pinto was re-dubbed when it entered Brazil because pinto in Portuguese is a word reserved for the male anatomy. It also happens the other way: th…

I'd just like to point out that pinto only refers to the male anatomy in Brazil. Here in Portugal - and probably in other Portuguese speaking countries -, a "pinto" is just a young chicken.

Still a bad name for a car though. Also, I think the Pinto never made it to Brazil.

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#37
post #30
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None. It is a completely strange word for us, our words normally doesn't end with a consonant (never with a 't') and we don't even use 'k' in our alphabet. I guess not even Google knows why it went so viral here. A proof of that is that now Facebook is by far the most used social network here (Google didn't even try to make Orkut -> GooglePlus transition, I don't know why).

Orkut was something like 5 years old before G+ was built. It has such a different social/sharing/privacy model, so it would be hard to convert, and it is only a major player in one country.

Ok, so "hard to convert" is a good enough reason to just ignore 40 million very active users.

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#38
post #2

Since the article text itself doesn't mention exactly why the name is so bad - Rego, the name of the product, is slang for ass crack in Portuguese. I can sort of understand why you wouldn't want to put that in the post itself, but it's also a little annoying to have to watch a video to find out why it went viral.

Thanks. Didn't bother watching the video either and was slightly annoyed they never mentioned in the text. (Again, sensationalist title, and probably a cheesy video. But maybe I just woke up with a bad mood :))

This.

Re: Why our product went viral in Brazil for the wrong reasons

#40
post #25
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed watching the video since if I had read your comment, it would have spoiled the entire reason why this post is pretty hilarious..... Finding out the context of a "joke" before the joke being told is kind of a spoiler. Anyway, watch the video if you can, it's worth the minute.

I do get that, but lots of people either don't want to watch a video or can't, for various reasons. I hope this wasn't a problem for too many people, because (tongue in cheek here) I'm positive everyone reads the articles first before coming to read the comments.

You're a brave person to use "tongue in cheek" on this thread.
Post reply on HN