View Full Version : Strangely-named products
The other day I saw a pickup on a Bangkok expressway with the following company logo on it: "Mechfood Engineering". Wow, I thought, what kind of crazy GMO company is that?
Elicits strange connotations. Sounds like they make foodstuff for Terminators! :p
A look at their website (http://www.mechfood.com/) then revealed that their business is actually rather harmless ..... They produce food processing machinery and equipment - not engineered food.
Weird name, though.... should be FoodMech, not Mechfood!
just as long as it's not Soylent Green...
just as long as it's not Soylent Green...Here's a link to Charlton Heston's famous cry (http://datacore.sciflicks.com/soylent_green/sounds/soylent_green_people.wav) from the 1973 movie.................. :D
(For those who haven't seen it - explanations on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_green).)
jpatokal
30-03-05, 10:16 AM
There are some great Thai company names out there. My favorites are Extradim Co. Ltd. (suggested slogan: "when merely stupid just isn't enough") and Thai Melon Polyester Company (suggested slogan: "purveyors of fine spandex outfits to Pamela Anderson and Dolly Parton").
Or check out Siccocar (http://www.siccocar.com) - and hope they are no sickos..... :eek:
I know there are many more strange Thai company names, but unfortunately I cannot remember them right now....
Re: Traffic trouble spam - 2Bangkok, April 29, 2005
The Chinese "traffic trouble company" (www.greensparkling.com ) is the hoot! Their name (brace yourself):
BGFG Beijing Green-sparkling Fragrant Grass high science Corporation
- or even: -
BEIJING GREEN AND SPARKLING FRAGRANT GRASS HIGH AND NEW SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
(Do the cars run on grass?)
Good thing is, they not only offer revolutionary traffic systems, but also "nontoxic cigarettes" - that is, Mr. Yao Kui Yi would like to invent them, but needs some money: "A spontaneous offer of help (support) is from USD 10,000 or above."
I'll transfer my contribution tomorrow.
There are some great Thai company names out there. My favorites are Extradim Co. Ltd. (suggested slogan: "when merely stupid just isn't enough") and Thai Melon Polyester Company (suggested slogan: "purveyors of fine spandex outfits to Pamela Anderson and Dolly Parton").BTW, Thai Melon Polyester is the company whose compound has recently been proposed as the site for the new National Assembly after they apparently went bust (Phahonyothin Highway, north of Rangsit, near Bangkok University, Pathum Thani).
Apart from that.... Thai brand names are often more than quirky.
For example, do you know the canned pepper tra mue thi nueng - Hand Brand No. 1 (with "thumbs up" logo)?
There's also an old medicine for upset stomach (a milky fluid in a small plastic bottle) which is called flying rabbit, I think. Of course, there are many more brands with names like "double flying horse" or something similar.
And finally, more disturbing, the sunflower kernels with a rifle (!) on the package (can't remember the name)....... :)
jpatokal
16-05-05, 11:53 AM
I think many if not most of these are direct translations from Chinese. In Singapore/Malaysia you will also find, among other things, Axe Brand Medical Oil and Three Legs Cough Syrup.
Three legs! :p :p :p
Is that a mutation, just a plain stupid name, or even an obscenity?
(I mean, third leg..... nudge nudge, wink wink ;) - but then you said it's a cough syrup, not an aphrodisiac.)
Ever wonder what happened to Carte D'Or Icecream; which was a big TV advertiser for a few months about ten years ago. In Thai it was pronounced 'Car -Tee Door' which is apparently also vulgar Thai slang for a piece of lower female anatomy.
More in the 'Politically Incorrect' category is a brand of scrubbing brushes called 'Black Man' complete with an image of a negroid face. Beats me how no one has yet figured out that this is offensive. These are still on the shelves; in fact I believe I have seen them in Tesco Lotus quite recently. Good quality bristles!
'Darkey' Toothpaste rebranded itself as 'Darley' some decades ago. I seem to remember it still had a 'Black Minstrel' face on it with those big shiney teeth until quite recently.
Back in my motorcycling days I remember you could buy cheap boxed motorcycle chains from a relatively anonymous Japanese company. On the box was a classic & rather dated Japanese-style photo of their proprietor ( with those stereotyped wire-framed round spectacles) with his name underneath, 'I.Duno'. These boxes became a collector's item amongst the local biking fraternity; and were proudly displayed on many a wall alongside their drug-inspired poster collections.
And finally, more disturbing, the sunflower kernels with a rifle (!) on the package (can't remember the name)....... :)Today I spotted them in a local shop --- the brand is "M-16" (?! really!) and the logo depicts two crossed rifles. One has to wonder..... :eek:
And finally, more disturbing, the sunflower kernels with a rifle (!) on the package (can't remember the name)....... :)Finally: pictures of the infamous M-16 sunflower kernel package. To be had for a princely 5 Baht.
front (http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2193/s30132797fw.jpg)
back (http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/1306/s30132815kz.jpg)
Just who came up with this strange name? (Maybe it is because Thai soldiers like(d) to eat them? But then I don't really know much about Thai soldiers...! Just a random guess. Maybe there's no reason at all.)
By the way:
The breast cream billboard (http://www.2bangkok.com/06/breastcream.jpg) featured on the frontpage says
"St herb Nano Breast Cream"
Sincerely hope it doesn't make the breasts diminish to nano size....... :eek: :p :rolleyes:
Did you notice that 7-Eleven now offers salapao buns with "rabbit cream" filling as part of some food promotion?
What the heck is that....? :eek:
(Sort of reminds me of Jake Needham's novel The Big Mango, where one of the main characters asks, "What is this fish sauce stuff anyway? Do they produce it by taking the goddamn fish and squeezing them?", or something similar... :D)
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