On Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:57:38 -0400, Warp wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:01:41 -0400, Warp wrote:
> 
>> > clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> 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.

The car probably sold poorly because it had a habit of not running.  Some 
might say that correlation isn't causation, but it certainly is at the 
very least a striking coincidence.

>> 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.

Of course there is.  It's called a joke, sense of humour required to 
understand it. ;-)

Jim

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