Nokia's Branding Oops: Lumia Can Mean "Prostitute"

[sicofante]

Spanish speaker and writer here. All the comments explaning some will use "lumi" here instead of "lumia" are just right. Almost no native Spanish speaker, no matter where s/he's from, will understand the word "lumia".

Our dictionary is not always up to date. In coming editions it'll probably reflect "lumi" as the slang word for "lumia", which absolutely nobody uses.

And you know what? When our Academia accepts the term "lumi", it'll be deprecated by the speakers. It almost is today.

I don't know if Nokia made its homework regarding the names (they should have checked the most spoken languages dictionaries, IMO). However, using this thing as a weapon against Nokia shouldn't go farther than a few comments in blogs. It should have never been the title of an article at a serious (?) publication.

 

[DaveUK]

I run my own business telecommunications business and have six years experience in the mobile industry, and I am personally very keen on Nokia coming back to the smartphone market in a big way.

Seeing the drop tests of the iPhone 4S vs Galaxy S2 really made me realise quite how crappy and overpriced the iPhone is in terms of build quality. Durability, reliability and overall quality of construction have always been big Nokia strengths - back in the day we only really used to get problems with the software rather than the phone itself.

I really don't know why people seek to bash Nokia; this article does seem to reek of Apple fanboyism to me. I want to see Nokia come back to challenge Apple and I want to see someone give a strong commitment to Windows Phone 7 so that we can have some market differentiation from the tide of generic android devices and the ubiquitous Apple devices that everyone seems to think they need.

 

[DaveUK]

I run my own business telecommunications business and have six years experience in the mobile industry, and I am personally very keen on Nokia coming back to the smartphone market in a big way.

Seeing the drop tests of the iPhone 4S vs Galaxy S2 really made me realise quite how crappy and overpriced the iPhone is in terms of build quality. Durability, reliability and overall quality of construction have always been big Nokia strengths - back in the day we only really used to get problems with the software rather than the phone itself.

I really don't know why people seek to bash Nokia; this article does seem to reek of Apple fanboyism to me. I want to see Nokia come back to challenge Apple and I want to see someone give a strong commitment to Windows Phone 7 so that we can have some market differentiation from the tide of generic android devices and the ubiquitous Apple devices that everyone seems to think they need.

 

[eddieroolz]

I don't understand why this is considered a "oops" simply because it means prostitute in Spanish. Does Nokia have to trash the name because people in Spanish speaking regions find it offensive? Seriously?

Mitsubishi sold a SUV before that was called Pajero. It also had sexual connotations in Spanish. So what, they just went ahead and changed the name for the Spanish market.

This whole "issue" is being overblown.

 

[bloodlover]

There's no such thing as "brazilian" language... Even my 5yo cousin knows that. And who cares what it mean in another language? The currency in Botswana is pula. Pula also means dick in my native language and nobody laughs about that.

So mature...

 

[Guest]

Apparently, the "simple Google search" on Lumia the author suggests, needs a little digging to find what it means. I'm sure he would even use a spade if needed, though. By now, with so many "hits", I'm sure it ranks much, much higher in the results.
At least, he did manage to understand where it really is based, light ("probably" as he writes; it must have been really hard for him to admit).

Here, Mr Gruener, check this small article on Wikipedia, and try not to burn off your iBrain(HTTP 404):
http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumia (by the way, this was easier to find with that "simple Google search").

Nokia, despite it's recent problems due to some pretty bad business decisions, has always been a superb quality mobile phone maker. I see a lot of potential in their deal with M$, and I guess that's what worries you.
I'd like to see them make a droid phone, but I'm not sure if they could survive in that market, given their situation. Thankfuly, the publicity you're giving them will help.

Oh, and Siri does indeed mean ass in Japanese. How about a 6-paragraph article on that?

 

[keyanf]

No N-Gage jokes?

I am disappoint internet. I am disappoint.