Product Naming: Delay No More In Chinglish

Roger Dennis writes about the play on English/Chinese words for naming products and services.

I used to live in Hong Kong and after a gob-smacked short while got used to shops with “Chinglish” names. For example there was the FarKing Mattress Company and EuroNate Bathroom products. These were unintentional parodies/puns which grabbed the attention of English speakers, but probably generated very little in the way of sales or attention via the vast majority of the Cantonese speaking population.

However a friend in Hong Kong sent me the attached photo from a shop called G.O.D. – Goods of Desire. It sells a poorer version of Ikea style furniture, but obviously has spent some money on getting some brains in the marketing department. For an English speaker a billboard with DelayNoMore means very little, apart from – maybe – don’t procrastinate about visiting the shop. However for a Cantonese/English speaker – or anyone familiar with swearing in Cantonese the effect is radically different. With the right accents, the phrase “delay no more” in Cantonese roughly translates to “go f*ck your mother”.

It’s obviously getting attention – and going slightly viral – otherwise I wouldn’t be getting sent photographs of a seemingly innocent billboard. I wonder who else has thought of such advertising techniques in bi-lingual markets?

Click image to enlarge