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I studied at graduate school of business at UCLA in the USA & University of Manitoba in Canada. In both graduate schools the professors cited the NOVA as examples of serious errors in product naming in Spanish speaking countries. You shattered my illusions about my professors in graduate school when you said it was an urban myth & untrue that NOVA was interpreted as No Va or no go & the car failed in those countries due to the name. It made sense, of course, that there is a Spanish word nova. So here is an international urban myth that has made it to the higher echelons of education in at least 2 countries. They even put it in writing in hand outs. It could even be in the text book. Now you have me seriously questioning my whole education. Oy the lies my proffesors told me. Sob!
Oh, yes, this is a common occurrence, I am afraid. There are many, many such stories that get passed around, and not just about language.
Two language-related books that do a superb job of debunking are mentioned in our reference works pages:
Bauer, Laurie, and Trudgill, Peter. Language Myths. London and New York: Penguin, 1998. A fundamental work for the beginning language scholar: dispels and explodes many long-held but inaccurate beliefs about language. "Laurie" is a man's name, in this case.
Wilton, David. Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. With the Bauer/Trudgill book above, this work is highly recommended as a way of answering questions about word origins that are frequently asked and often wrongly answered.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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