Re: HUMOUR: interesting tidbits from the marketing world

Jonathan Chang wrote:
>
>     Some of you may have seen these before...
> but some of you probably have not seen all of these.
>     I think this is interesting in regards to translation (and
> cultural sensibilities/sensitivities...)
>     OBCONLANG: Any similar humourous ConLang items like these?
> Any unfortunate Coca-Cola ad campaigns in your conculture, hehe?
>
> TOP TEN MARKETING GOOFS
[snip]

Not a marketing goof, but a funny coincidence is the following:

In the east of Kemr (the country in alternative history Britain where
Brithenig, Nur-ellen and several other conlangs are spoken), there is
a city named Tavrob`l (Tafrobl in Brithenig spelling),
which is Nur-ellen and means "forest town".
According to Padraic Brown, the name means "handsome bull" in Kerno
(another language spoken in Kemr).

Both conlangs were designed completely independently from each other.
I didn't know about Kerno when inventing Nur-ellen, and Padraic didn't
know about Nur-ellen when inventing Kerno.
Neither of the two conlangs was designed a priori: Kerno is Romance,
while Nur-ellen is based on Sindarin.

Jörg.