Tuesday, January 26, 2016
The Official Name
Always interesting to watch a cultural translation. American stuff often spreads, but the same names or products have a different feel in their new homes.
My favorite example is the Willys Aero, a GOOD car that failed here and succeeded in Brazil. In USA STRONG the Aero was just another compact that sold for only three years. In Brazil it sold for 20 years as a near-luxury car roughly equivalent to the Buick class. It improved technically and stylistically, acquired leather and wood interiors, and even spawned a limo model.
A couple years ago the Weather Channel started naming winter storms. I had fun with the practice. Here in USA STRONG nobody considers the weather.com names to be official, and the media in NY and DC didn't use the name Jason for this week's blizzard. Now that it has crossed the Atlantic as a warm hurricane-like storm, the Brit media are specifically saying that Storm Jason is "the official name", and they're using the name heavily in headlines.
¶ 6:00 PM 
