OT: Ironic branding for import tools

brianweldor · Oct 24, 2017

Between Urrea tools and
Kaka industrial , I am wondering if these should be rebranded. Let's imagine the other names on the line card...
Urrea
Kaka
Bulschit
Uterkrap
Pispor
Süksöbad

ewlsey · Oct 24, 2017

What's ironic about Oo-ray-ah tools? Pretty good stuff. Made in Mexico.

In before the lock...

wawoodman · Oct 24, 2017

Not to mention Pittsburgh, Chicago, and all the other HF brands.

Scottl · Oct 24, 2017

While those names may sound funny to our ears I am sure there were sound reasons for them. Ever look at some of the names on domestic beer bottles from companies started by immigrants?

And then there is the heavy equipment whose name escapes me now but is both long and exotic.

Gobo · Oct 24, 2017

A couple of years back at IMTS there was a chicom booth that sold rotary tools for lathes. The brand name was Golden Goose. The logo was a pelican. Did not quite translate well.

motion guru · Oct 24, 2017

I changed wheel bearings on a heavy duty equipment trailer built by a local trailer company that used Dexter 7,000 lb axles and the part numbers for the chinese bearings I pulled out each started with P.O.S. . . . an apt part # series based on apparent quality or lack thereof.

DDoug · Oct 24, 2017

Scottl said:
And then there is the heavy equipment whose name escapes me now but is both long and exotic.

Well, I drove a small Lamborgini dozer once, but's sort of a well known name.

Landini makes nice vineyard tractors.

French excavators Poclain ?

LeTourneau ?

FredC · Oct 24, 2017

Urrea is the family name of the people that bought out some of the Proto tool manufacturing plants in Mexico. Spelling is different than urine and urea, close but not the same.
Personally I do not mind buying their tools as mentioned it is good stuff, and your are buying from a close neighbor unlike buying crap from China.

Limy Sami · Oct 24, 2017

Lighten up guys, ..the Op is headed Ironic, .....and you have to admit there is a certain irony to it, ..........and one does come from a country where ''Jesus'' ** is common-ish Christian name

Mind you, in the UK we had ''King Dick'' brand wrenches

.....though how they arrived at ''Snail Brand'' for another make completely escapes me.

PS ** - and yes, I know how it's pronounced :rolleyes5:

Illinoyance · Oct 24, 2017

And then there is Toyota. On the side of the box is a big TRD. Toyota Racing Development makes a crappy acronym.

Clive603 · Oct 24, 2017

According to an internet search :-

Snail brand spanners were made by Thomas Smith & Sons of Saltley Ltd., Birmingham. Thomas Smith is said to have chosen the snail as his brand because his motto was, "The snail may be slow, but he gets there in the end".

Not forgetting "Footprint" and, at the heavier end of the scale, Alldays and Onions.

Re Golden Goose. I had 5/8 capacity chuck of that brand on an R8 taper supplied with an unmentionable square column mill. Figured with name like that it wouldn't be much good and took year or three before using it in anger. To my surprise it was actually very good. Kept it when the mill went as it was the only 5/8" one I had. Not a daily driver but certainly not disgraced by the Albrecht ones I normally use on the Bridgeport.

I always felt Abingdon King Dick and Snail spanners were somewhat on the chunky and cumbersome side. But the AKD version of the common American Crescent shifting spanner is better than the original although given the choice I prefer the Snail brand style having parallel jaws with the moving one driven up a straight shaft. Needs a bit more space than crescent tho'. Wonder how many brands of those there were? I have 4 all different.

Clive

EPAIII · Oct 24, 2017

Well I am sure that there must be some English names that do not fare well when used in some foreign countries. I understand that some companies do a lot of thinking and research just to come up with a company name that does not sound bad in some other language.

And Spanish can be quite problematic. I had a South American friend some years ago. He came from one Spanish speaking country in South America but was living in the South Florida area with tons of Cubans. He told me of some embarrassing situations where he tried to use a flattering term for someone's wife and almost would up in a fist or knife fight because of a difference in meaning.

L Vanice · Oct 24, 2017

Gobo said:
A couple of years back at IMTS there was a chicom booth that sold rotary tools for lathes. The brand name was Golden Goose. The logo was a pelican. Did not quite translate well.

Key-type ball bearing chucks that look like Jacobs super chucks but look better. I have a 1/4" capacity on the tailstock of a Levin lathe that will not move the needle on a .0001" Interapid. The 1/4" GG is more compact than the Jacobs 1/4" super chuck and is the finest keyed chuck I have ever owned. I like it better than all my Albrechts.

To enlarge on the original topic, I tend to pronounce Rong Fu (the mills) as "wrong for you." And Nissan Altima makes me think "oldtimer."

And speaking of kaka, I just read a book that mentioned/defined the expression alta kaka (sometimes spelled in other ways). I am old enough to appreciate the term.

Larry

plannerpower · Oct 24, 2017

Jack Brabham & Ron Tauranac formed Motor Racing Developments to build & sell racing cars; the first car produced was called the MRD.

The name was soon changed to Brabham after a French journalist pointed-out that the French pronunciation of MRD sounded rather like "merde" which is a rude word in French.

MattiJ · Oct 24, 2017

EPAIII said:
Well I am sure that there must be some English names that do not fare well when used in some foreign countries. I understand that some companies do a lot of thinking and research just to come up with a company name that does not sound bad in some other language.

And Spanish can be quite problematic. I had a South American friend some years ago. He came from one Spanish speaking country in South America but was living in the South Florida area with tons of Cubans. He told me of some embarrassing situations where he tried to use a flattering term for someone's wife and almost would up in a fist or knife fight because of a difference in meaning.

Mitsubishi Pajero = Spanish for Wanker

Megapussi is popular among foreigners in here. (XXL size potato chips bag)
Vihtavuori (smokeless powder mfg, seemingly impossible for English speakers to pronounce or even write.

)

Japan is full of totally crazy translations and product names.

Modelman · Oct 24, 2017

EPAIII said:
Well I am sure that there must be some English names that do not fare well when used in some foreign countries. I understand that some companies do a lot of thinking and research just to come up with a company name that does not sound bad in some other language.

The classic example of that was GM trying to sell the Chevy Nova in South and Central America. While it isn't quite properly conjugated, va is the verb "to go" and no means exactly what it does in English.

Dennis

L Vanice · Oct 24, 2017

MattiJ said:
...Japan is full of totally crazy translations and product names.

I was in Japan a few times in the 1970's. The cool Nissan/Datsun 240Z sports coupe that was sold in the USA was badged Fairlady Z in Japan and the Tokyo police had a fleet of them. It seemed a strange name to see on a police car. The local cars all had model names in English, never spelled in Japanese characters on the car body.

Larry

redlee · Oct 24, 2017

********* Bearings.
Not politically correct today.

adama · Oct 24, 2017

Don't qoute me on the spelling, but its something like BROOKE, there not bad either, but fuck me i was nearly rolling around on the floor when the sales man handed me the box of BROOKE M6 taps. I think there actually a old uk machine tool brand, but now just do cutters.

Spud · Oct 24, 2017

Scottl said:
While those names may sound funny to our ears I am sure there were sound reasons for them. Ever look at some of the names on domestic beer bottles from companies started by immigrants?

And then there is the heavy equipment whose name escapes me now but is both long and exotic.

Pawling and Harnischfeger (P & H ) ?
Liebherr ?
Manitowoc?
Bucyrus-Erie?

OT: Ironic branding for import tools

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