atw: Re: Offshoring: Don't shoot the messenger




Hi Michael -

> Sadly, Snopes tends to debunk absolutely everything

No, they use several categories to rate stories as true,
false, ambiguous, unverified, disputed, and so on. See:
http://www.snopes.com/info/ratings.asp

I believe all the snopes write-ups have been through
the wringer at alt.folklore.urban (or wherever it lives
these days), a *very* smart, picky and rigorous
bunch of fact checkers. snopes provides enough detail
for you to fault their reasoning or check their sources
if you wish. That's good enough for me.

> Sure, seeing "Nova" in print, many people didn't have a problem.
> It was when it moved into the audible domain, through radio and
> television advertising and review / commentary that this
> became most noticeable and widespread.

Well, I think the question of pronunciation is well covered
in the snopes article:

   First of all, the phrase "no va" (literally "doesn't go") and the
   word "nova" are distinct entities with different pronunciations
   in Spanish: the former is two words and is pronounced with the
   accent on the second word; the latter is one word with the accent
   on the first syllable. Assuming that Spanish speakers would
   naturally see the word "nova" as equivalent to the phrase "no va"
   and think "Hey, this car doesn't go!" is akin to assuming that
   English speakers woud spurn a dinette set sold under the name
   Notable because nobody wants a dinette set that doesn't include
   a table.

   Although "no va" can be literally translated as "no go," it
   would be a curious locution for a speaker of Spanish to use in
   reference to a car. Just as an English speaker would describe
   a broken-down car by saying that it "doesn't run" rather than
   it "doesn't go," so a Spanish speaker would refer to a
   malfunctioning automobile by saying "no marcha" or "no
   funciona" or "no camina" rather than "no va."

> ... but, according to a Chilean friend of mine who knows,
> from his own experience, the "no va" comment had a tangible
> negative impact on sales, as the car became quite a joke
> among the Spanish speaking people of (his part) of
> South America.

   "The truth is that the Chevrolet Nova's name didn't
   significantly affect its sales: it sold well in both its
   primary Spanish-language markets, Mexico and Venezuela."

> (Especially the 1980s Toy-motor Corolla based model.)

   According to http://www.novaresource.org/history.htm the
   "last generation Novas" were released in 1975-1979.

I have to disagree with you on this one.
---
Stuart Burnfield
Information Developer
Australian Programming Centre

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