“Microsoft Corp. market researchers in Quebec found themselves in a potential linguistic pickle when they conducted consumer test-runs of the digital music player Zune, which the company officially announced on Thursday will be competing by Christmas with Apple’s hugely successful iPod,” Randy Boswell reports for CanWest News Service.
Boswell reports, “A Microsoft spokeswoman in Montreal told CanWest News Service that ‘it was pointed out to us’ during focus groups in the province that the proposed brand name sounded much like a French-Canadian term used as a euphemism for penis or vagina.”
Boswell reports, “The French word ‘zoune’ and the variant ‘bizoune’ typically serve as a less jolting way of referring to male or female genitalia when addressing children.”
‘It’s very much slang,’ said Nathalie Bergeron, noting that the words are not common parts of French-Canadian vocabulary. ‘Microsoft did do extensive customer research in Quebec,’ Bergeron added, and concluded that the name Zune was ‘very effective’ and posed no risk of becoming known as an embarrassing double entendre,” Boswell reports.
“But sounds of snickering over the apparent Zune branding predicament have been emanating for months from technology-obsessed corners of the Internet,” Boswell reports. “In July, during an earlier round of publicity about Microsoft’s plans to introduce Zune, the British-based business news site theinquirer.net revealed the potential ‘naming conundrum” in Quebec under the headline: ‘My Zune is bigger than yours.'”
Full article here.
[Attribution: Macworld UK. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “jendensam” for the heads up.]
Similarly, last week, The Inquirer’s Nick Farrell reported, “Microsoft Marketers are having a hell of a job establishing the super soaraway operating system in the pecking order in Latvia. Apparently, whenever they ring up peddling Vista, Latvians burst out laughing because the name means ‘chicken.'”
Full article here.
It almost – almost – goes without saying that the first unlucky soul who buys a Zune then plugs and prays it into his Windows Vista PC causing its inevitable crash will give a whole new meaning to the phrase “choking the chicken.”
Related articles:
Crave at CNET: ‘Microsoft Zune, all the excitement that brown can bring’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune underwhelms – September 15, 2006
Enderle: Microsoft Zune ‘a design mistake’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft hypocrisy exposed with Zune: What ever happened to ‘choice?’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune with fake scroll wheel ‘hardly an Apple iPod killer’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune won’t spoil Apple’s biggest iPod Christmas ever – September 14, 2006
Microsoft unveils Zune 30GB player, Zune Marketplace; declines to disclose prices – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s Zune an ‘underwhelming’ repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat; no threat to Apple iPod – August 30, 2006
Microsoft confirms brick-like Zune to be made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft Zune is chunky brick made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft to spend hundreds of millions, several years on Zune trying to catch Apple iPod+iTunes – July 27, 2006
Zune: Apple cannot lose. Microsoft cannot win. – July 26, 2006
That’s funnier than “zoonosis” and “zoonotic” I saw earlier.
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HUHHAHAHAHAHHAAH “Choking the Chicken” – Plug Zune in your Vista!
Hilarious as anything around Microsoft these days.
When the most common reaction you trigger around you is laughters and snickering you should realize you lost it. MS: soon you’ll realize it you too.
I’ll take one black penis… I mean zune… please
*agape*
Uhh, I got nuthin.
Ampar?
MW: Staff. Nope. Too easy.
Similar thing happened to GM a couple of years ago with the Buick LaCrosse. It seems in the French section of Canada “LaCrosse” is slang for “masturbate”. They changed the Canadian cars name to Allure.
Where are all the geniuses who should be researching this crap BEFORE a product gets introduced?
From: MDN Readers
Subject: MDN Take above
Date: September 15, 2006
To: Ampar
Ampar,
You’re good, but you’re not that good. Don’t take it too hard: that’s at least a Top 10 All-Time MacDailyNews Take.
Heard at MS headquarters:
Marketing guy: “Um yeah apparently Zune means penis or vagina in Canada”
Steve Ballmer: (picks up chair and throws it)
Actually, It should go well with the new “Camel Toe” two buttomn mouse…
“Hey guys! Wanna see my new zune?”
“Sure Jimmy! Whip it out and show us how tiny it is!”
The Zune name shouldn’t bother French-Canadians at all. Its after surrender, its their most popular pastime.
Zune means we want a trademark lawsuit with Creative. Zen and Zune are waaaaaaayyyy too similar. And Creative has Apple money to fight that battle with.
Poifict!
So, Zune does come in more than just one model after all!
White: length 6″
Brown: length 8″
Black: length 12″
Now we know why MS made the Zune “bigger” than the iPod.
“scuse me while i whip dis out….”
Not to worry, nobody and I mean nobody is going to have Zune envy.
What’s big and brown and weighs .5 lb?
DAMN!
Keep your zoune in your pants!
Chevrolet had a similar problem with the Chevy Nova. In Spanish, “no va” means “no go.”
I did a zu-zune in my doo doo
Since I live in Quebec I’d like to confirm that not only does “Zune” sound like a penis, it’s manufacturer looks like one and acts like one!
You can’t really fault Microsoft on this one. The Quebecois have so many euphamisms for penis and vagina that it’s hard to avoid them.
Sorry Winston, the Chevy Nova story is more a myth. The difference with the Zune it sounds like the other bit in their native language while the word Nova in Spanish is pronounced differently than no va.
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp
I like the phrase, ‘will compete against” iPod/iTunes. They may market against, but they will probably compete about as well as Dell did with the Digital Junkbox and the DJ Ditty.
Kind of like Hyundai competes with Ferrari
Think Trojan will become an official Microsoft Made for Zune™ ‘partner’?