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Naomi Osaka’s new project with LeBron James mocked over ‘vulgar’ name
NY Post ^ | June 24, 2022 | Andrew Court

Posted on 06/27/2022 2:20:49 PM PDT by Mount Athos

Four-time Grand Slam tennis champ Naomi Osaka is being hit with backlash over the unintentionally — or cluelessly, depending on whom you ask — offensive name of her new media company, Hana Kuma.

...Hana kuma means “flower bear” in Japanese — but Twitter users quickly noted it has a far more explicit meaning in Swahili, where it translates to “woman without a vagina.”

The lost-in-translation controversy began trending on Twitter in multiple African countries...

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: andrewcourt; flowerbear; hanakuma; lebronjames; naomiosaka; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkpost; swahili
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To: Mount Athos
adm-rachel-l-levine

Hana kuma means “flower bear” in Japanese.... has a far more explicit meaning in Swahili, where it translates to “woman without a vagina.”

21 posted on 06/27/2022 3:06:22 PM PDT by PGR88 (<i>)
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To: Mount Athos

I guess they’ll just have to risk offending all the swahili speaking tennis stars.


22 posted on 06/27/2022 3:10:02 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Jamestown1630
> If you were going to name a company, would you search all the world’s languages to find out what your chosen name might mean if spoken in every one of them?

That is precisely what ESSO (Eastern States Standard Oil) did when they chose "EXXON" as their new name. It's not a word in any known language, much less a naughty word.

23 posted on 06/27/2022 3:11:27 PM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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To: Mount Athos

More than 125 million people speak Japanese but only about 16 million people speak Swahili.


24 posted on 06/27/2022 3:15:56 PM PDT by Jyotishi (Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)
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To: dayglored

And when did they do that, and how did they conduct their search? I doubt very much that they actually surveyed ALL world languages.

According to Wiki, it is estimated that there could be up to 3000 different languages in Africa, with 500 in Nigeria alone - and that isn’t counting all the other continents. I guarantee that ‘Esso’ is likely to mean something in some other language that is vulgar, or just ridiculous.

It seems that as the world becomes smaller and more connected, there are going to be endless cultural pitfalls. What a ridiculous world to live in, until people start acting from good sense instead of their little ‘feelings’.


25 posted on 06/27/2022 3:24:02 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Jamestown1630
The name change was in 1973. A buddy of mine at that time was involved with the company and mentioned the extensive search they did to avoid names that might cause trouble or offense.

But I'm sure you're right that they didn't check EVERY language, probably just the most prevalent few hundred.

26 posted on 06/27/2022 3:33:21 PM PDT by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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To: Mount Athos

Convert any statement into the thousands of world languages and you are bound to come up with something vulgar. Btw - I don’t like these people so I hope they fail at everything.


27 posted on 06/27/2022 3:37:34 PM PDT by wgmalabama (We will find out if the Vac or virus risk was the correct choice - put the truth above narrative )
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To: dayglored

Probably where they expected to do significant business.


28 posted on 06/27/2022 3:48:11 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: wgmalabama

I don’t know much about them at all - but nutty criticisms of them like this ‘flower bear’ business just weaken any legitimate criticism of their truly serious errors.


29 posted on 06/27/2022 4:26:00 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Mount Athos

LOL. Babel, part 2,


30 posted on 06/27/2022 4:27:49 PM PDT by unlearner ( Si vis pacem, para bellum. Let him who desires peace prepare for war.)
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To: Houserino

Actually, “she” was always a boy playing a girl. She simply can’t pass anymore so “she” is transitioning to her real sex.


31 posted on 06/27/2022 4:45:00 PM PDT by 1malumprohibitum
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To: Jamestown1630

There are research businesses that do exactly that for their customers to avoid this situation.

Probably not every language, but all of those with a large population of speakers. This situation is the nightmare of international companies.


32 posted on 06/27/2022 4:51:05 PM PDT by GreenLanternCorps (Hi! I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts! (TM) Atsk about franchise opportunities in your area.)
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To: 1malumprohibitum

She was born XY? I’ll have to look that up.


33 posted on 06/27/2022 4:57:37 PM PDT by Houserino
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To: Houserino

It’s not in her bio. Hollywood is full of secret trans. It’s all about deception. They are not the loud and proud trans. They pass as real until they can’t. Far more than any would think.


34 posted on 06/27/2022 5:05:24 PM PDT by 1malumprohibitum
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To: GreenLanternCorps

As the world gets smaller and businesses expand geographically, they will need to hire linguists - and/or sophisticated programs - to figure things like this out.

But even then, there will be a point where common sense needs to rule. As in so many other situations now, companies can’t possibly cater to every touchy little population and specific cultural concern, without essentially paralyzing themselves.


35 posted on 06/27/2022 5:50:34 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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