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Previous: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 | Main | Next: Hotel rooms sign
January 30, 2006 12:03 AM
Broken: Dishwashing soap
Clayton A. of Topeka, Kansas points out:
This dishwashing liquid was found by my Russian teacher while she was in Russia.
According to my teacher it isn't just a typo, because there was a whole shelf of them.
The bottom reads, "With fantastic action removes grease."
Thats... Interesting. (Sidenote: YAY FIRST POST!) Dont wanna put any of THAT on my dishes, considering the name and grammar.
If you go to the Paxan Web site, they have a variety of BARF that can be used as shampoo as well. Oh, joy!
http://www.iran-export.com/exporter/company/paxan/shampoo.htm
I should add to my post above that the copy for BARF shampoo reads, "Makes hair shiny, for normal hair, packaged in 400 gram size."
I believe for oily hair you need PUKE.
Next thing you know, they'll be coming out with VOMIT carpet cleaner. "Your worst stains will be lifted away with our patented VOMIT!"
well...
if you check their site, you can clearly see a box titled БАРФ, which is basically /B/A/R/EF/. When the product designers designed the box, they thought that it might seem like it was of a higher quality if it looked as if it had been imported. So they went with the Latin characters instead of cyrillic.
And to think all this time when the kids were getting sick I was just flushing it when I should be bottling it. Watch out Amway, here Barf comes!!!
And to think all this time when the kids were getting sick I was just flushing it when I should be bottling it. Watch out Amway, here Barf comes!!!
Lets see this is a product apparently manufactured in Russia. It is being marketed there, and this is not related to any version that is being imported into the US. Then you consider it bad marketing to have a name on it that is slang English for vomit. I am trying to figure out why this is really that stupid. Given that someday they might want to market it internationally and would have to probably change the name for this purpose, (but that would be a pretty unlikely event) they migh hve been a little extra smart if they considered what the name looked like in American. But since this word will in fact not carry that meaning where it is being marketed it is not stupid. What is stupid here is that someone assume that just because a word means something here in the US it has that same meaning in another country.
buying BARF is stupid. make your own by shoving a toothbrush into your throat. That will give you lots of BARF.
This should be on engrish.com
In New Mexico, one of the most common surnames is "Baca," which is pronounced just like the Japanese word "baka," which means "idiot."
Not broken, unless you're a xenophobic shut-in.
And here I thought this product was invented by the mog(half man half dog) in the movie "Space Balls".
To those who made comments about this not being marketed to the English speaking world... Take a closer look at the picture. Last time I checked "dishwashing liquid" was English.
I have to agree this should be in the "Just for Fun" category, or maybe we need a whole "engrish" category.
To put the shoe on the other foot, the word "gift" means "poison" in German and quite a few Germans have either genuinely feared, or laughed at, Americans or English trying to give them a "gift."
Apparently 'barf' is Farsi for 'snow'. Perfectly reasonable name to use in Iran, but it just doesn't work in English...
Have a heart Ray, you are taking life waaayyy to seriously.
This is a consumer site where we comment on broken or not, and some subjects tickle the funny bone to no end. Yet if the manufacturer wants to bring it to America, or there is someone out there inventing something right now who is following this board, maybe they will learn something about global marketing. Do you know what is going to happen when I go to buy dishsoap now? I'm going to look for Barf... good advertising. Kinda like making diaper rash ointment and calling it "Butt Paste" (which really does exist).
Conclusion: product not broken, only two ribs from laughing so hard and Ray's sense of humor.
(Since there are no idiotic emoticons to insert to mark the tone of this post I insert my texticon: :D )
The one thing that is posibly broken about this is that they used english for some of the text, and Farsi or whatever for the rest; it just happens to be a funny coincidence that the one word which isn't in English, happens to mean "throw up" in our language.
John, take a closer look. The whole front of the bottle is in English. Furthermore, BARF is not in Farsi or Russian. Neither of those use the Latin alphabet. Also, note that their website is in English. I'm confused as to why an Iranian company has nothing in Farsi on their website.
And everyone who said it should be considered Engrish: Engrish is only used for stuff badly translated from Oriental languages (originally, Japanese, but now Korean, Chinese, and the southeast Asian languages as well). I suppose that would be Farnglish or Russlish.
Before someone corrects me on the fact that Farsi is sometimes transliterated into the Latin alphabet, I know that, but so is almost every language.
>"Engrish is only used for stuff badly translated from Oriental languages"
since when? engrish.com doesn't agree.
Jello B's River City comment gives me so much joy.
Yay, I've given somebody joy!
*dances*
I'm suprised somebody actually got the joke.
I actually got the River City Ransom joke too. I thought it was pretty funny too considering how long it has been since I've even seen that game. My brothers used to love it.
Ahhhhh. So THAT'S why people yell *BARF!* in River City Ransom. They want dishwashing liquid!
I think it's pretty cool that everyone though of RCR when they saw this.
Is seems that Paxan is an Iranian company, and according to Wiktionary the word "barf" means "snow" in Persian.
Oh, there's a lot of stuff with weird-sounding names: A Swedish baby bath product is called "Barnagen Bad Skum" and there's a Portugese brand of tuna called "Atum Bom." I don't think this should be considered broken, but if it was toilet cleaner, that would be rreally funny.
The next sentence is "Leaving your dishes sparkling clean while keeping your hands soft and gentle."
From Paxan's web site:
BARF
(Hand laundry detergent)
Strong cleaner,
well-known in international markets
packaged in 150, 480 gram and 20 kilogram sizes
and:
BARF
Well-known in international markets,
in three fragrances
packaged in 500 and 1000 gram sizes
and:
BARF
Makes hair shiny, for normal hair,
packaged in 400 gram size
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Previous: Microsoft SQL Server 2000 | Main | Next: Hotel rooms sign
Thats... Interesting. (Sidenote: YAY FIRST POST!) Dont wanna put any of THAT on my dishes, considering the name and grammar.
Posted by: Commenter at January 30, 2006 01:04 AM