Everyone's heard the story about how Chevrolet officials were shocked the Chevy Nova sold so poorly in Latin America -- until someone with some seventh-grade Spanish figured out that, en Español, "No va" means "it doesn't go."
For a more recent, more local example of extremely poor word choice see the San Francisco Giants' promotional material for African American Heritage Night:
Friday, August 22 - African-American Heritage Night returns for another season. The Bay Area has always been rich with African American heritage we'd like to invite you to be a part of the exclusive African American Heritage Night here at AT&T Park. This is a great chance to show your enthusiasm for not only your baseball team, but for your culture as well. The package includes more then just a $20 discounted Friday night ticket with proceeds going to a local community group charity - it also includes a seat in the African American section of the park as well as Giants PA Announcer Renel Brooks-Moon talking bobblehead.
The African American section of the park? Good Lord, this blurb was not written by a History major, was it? Let's not make any snide remarks about the drinking fountains in this corner of the ball yard and just agree that better verbiage could well have been selected.
Considering the laws of Political Correctness and foul memories of an unjust time we're toying with, let's just end this post right here...and not make any jokes about potentially awkward wording for Jewish Heritage Night on the 25th. --Joe Eskenazi
