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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospam com> wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:01:41 -0400, Warp wrote:
> > clipka <ano### [at] anonymous org> wrote:
> >> For instance they name a car "Nova", though in some language it happens
> >> to mean "doesn't go".
> >
> > Urban legend which isn't true.
> >
> > "Nova" in Spanish means exactly the same thing as it means in English,
> > and isn't confused with anything else.
> But "No va" does in fact mean "it doesn't go". That's where the joke
> comes from, and when you say "nova" or "no va", in most Spanish-speaking
> countries, it sounds the same. (That's based on my both having been to
> Mexico *and* Spain, BTW).
But the urban legend explicitly states that the car sold poorly because
it was named "Nova", not that people were joking about the name.
> So in fact it *is* true except for those who are pedantic and pronounce
> the space in between "no" and "va".
There's a clear difference in which syllable is stressed.
--
- Warp
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