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August 17, 2006
Double Meaning Prompts Name Change
Sometimes your street name can be irksome, especially if you live on Kaka Street in New Zealand. According to ABC News, the double meaning of Kaka is prompting a street name change.
In Maori, a KaaKaa is a bird and Kaka is something they would deposit on a statue. The resulting name change to Kākā is a gentle nod to proper usage of the Maori language.
I have to feel sorry for the Brazilian soccer player Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, whose nickname is Kaka. Just for the record, Kaka also means "Togolese Folk Dance," is the Swedish word for "cookie," and means "brother" in Swahili.
The urban dictionary, on the other hand, reminds us that similar sounding Caca is the Spanish word for “excrement”, an interesting linkage.
Technorati Tags: Kaka Street, New Zealand, Name Change
Posted by Katya Miller at August 17, 2006 2:24 PM
Posted to Linguistics
| Naming
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Interesting to note how often brand names and slogans simply failt to translate across cultural and language boundaries...a keystone for any business - and an expensive fix the second time around.
Thanks for the comment, Hotelguru. Your blog post yesterday was fascinating. Good examples. You're absolutely right about the cost of failing to do the appropriate global linguistic analysis.
I'm glad to see you're still reading.