See Sideswipe's best photos of the yearKEY POINTS:
When cross-cultural advertising goes wrong:
1. Parker Pens marketed a ballpoint in Mexico with ads that were supposed to say "it won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you". The company thought the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."
2. When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first-class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally as "Vuela en cuero", which actually means "fly naked" in Spanish.
3. Pepsi's "Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave" in Chinese.
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Jonny Knopp writes: "Never mind merging the seven councils together, Auckland City Council can't even dig up a pavement properly. All the pavements round my way are being re-paved, which is great, I don't mind the workmen ripping up the driveway for that, good on you council. The new driveway part of the pavement was all of a week old when workmen for Telecom pulled it up to lay a single cable, all of 50mm in diameter, and I presume they'll lay some new pavement so that Vector can come along and pull that up to re-route the powerlines under the path too. If one relatively small council can't get the utility companies working with each other, how on earth will one super council? Rant over, carry on."
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A Romanian man has been sacked after his mother visited him at work - minutes after he told his boss she had just died. Florin Radu Hretu, 27, from Pascani, had just asked to borrow some money to pay for her funeral. When she turned up a few minutes later, his boss made him repay the money and then fired him. He is also being investigated by police for fraud.
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Rob Walker writes: "I see that David Annette claims a reader 'boasted' about the mathematics of Dr Hilary Moss. Please inform David that the late Dr Hilary Moss [a yachtsman among other attributes] is survived by his wife Emily. A man of amazing intellect, he obtained his PhD just out of his teens, followed later in life by the prestigious DSc, the highest award a university can give. He is the author of two books and 40 papers dealing in the main with his specialist area of electron guns. In that field he has international standing. He has been adviser to the giant Westinghouse Corporation among other management positions. He has been a professor at some leading world universities, the last being Auckland University. So although I am unable to follow his maths because of my lack of education, I KNOW that he was a remarkable man, and this is confirmed by many academics and my reading of his book The Technology Trap. Methinks that David relies on Google and Wikipedia too much."
Today's Video Webpick: Seinfeld Reunion Show 2027: Comedian and impersonator Frank Caliendo plays all the characters from the show brilliantly. Watch it here.
These are the very best online videos from Ana's online magazine Spare Room.
