Aren’t foreign languages wonderful? And don’t the Japanese suck at them? They’re not the only ones, for sure. But when your country is archipelagic, it can increase linguistic isolation. Britain has a similar issue, but at least, the Brits have a sense of humour about these things. And they don’t routinely name their cars with odd and inapproriate foreign-sounding names, they prefer odd and inappropriate English names.
In Japan, you can ride in a Cocoa, a Cappucino, a Splash, a Chiffon, a Pistachio or a Latte. And if you don’t want those, you can just go get a Life (or have a Fit). Or, until the end of this year, you could just relax and have a Pajero. It’s no secret that this Mitsubishi was never sold anywhere near Spanish-speaking countries. Even in the US, which has a large Spanish-speaking population, they took no chances and renamed these “Montero.” And that’d be ok if it weren’t for one question: just what exactly does pajero mean in the Spanish-speaking world?
Well, I had a bit of a browse on translation websites, and opinions are somewhat contrasted. Which, given that Spanish is spoken by about half a billion people in over 20 countries, is pretty normal. For some, pajero means liar. Elsewhere, it can mean lazy – or even plumber, apparently. But most do agree that the vulgar meaning of the word, i.e. a man frequently practicing onanism – or wanker, in plain English – is likely to be the most widely understood definition. It’s derived from the word “paja” (straw)…
I’m not sure why Mitsubishi thought naming a car Pajero was a good idea, especially a model they were going to export far and wide. They certainly weren’t the first to make this kind of mistake (Nissan Cedric, anyone?), but give them credit – at least they stuck to their guns. The Pajero is about to exit the JDM after 37 years of continuous production, going through four generations.
As I found this nicely maturing early model on the streets of Bangkok, where these are now rather rare, I thought we could all take a moment and reflect. And laugh at that bunch of pajeros working at Mitsubishi’s marketing department.
Didn’t Buick have a similar issue with the LaCrosse nameplate in parts of French-speaking Canada?
Yes; for that reason it was named the Allure from 2005-10.
It is also Pajero in Brazil. Maybe Honda changed Fit into Jazz in Europe because Fit remembers fitta, which means pussycat (-cat) in Sweden.
I’ve always been confused why a country that writes in kanji, hiragana, and katakana has always named and labeled their vehicles using Latin names and alphabet, setting aside that some of the names are weird.
I think it’s because the cars were not tall enough for the vertical nameplates required for traditional Japanese names. :}
Actually in most South American Spanish speaking countries it translates into a male that masterbates fequently.
His name is Jack Offalot.
My favourite is the Toyota MR2 as pronounced in French.
(I’ve got a stopwatch running, waiting to see how soon someone will bring up the old canard about “Chevy Nova, heh heh heh, ‘no va’ means ‘doesn’t go’ in Spanish, haw haw haw”.)
You can also set a stopwatch for my indignant response where I chide that person for repeating an urban legend, link them to Snopes, and then say, “Well, as an English-speaking person, you don’t fear going to a ‘therapist’, do you?”
Okay, Lindsay, are you forgetting that I was a professional twice over— an analyst and a therapist. The world’s first analrapist.
“I’m afraid I’ve prematurely shot my wad on what was supposed to be a dry run and now I have something of a mess on my hands.”
“Wow, that’s so many poor choices of words…”
There’s a Kia Picanto (close enough…)
And, of course, a Fiat Croma.
The sweet irony of a model being phased out, that played no small role in propagating millions of onerists to lust after aggressively designed conveyances, a trend that sadly shows no sign of abating.
That may be true to some degree, but the Pajero/Montero/Shogun was a very capable off road vehicle, as much as a Range Rover but without the ‘image’. I agree with your mindset concerning the proliferation of SUVs and subsequently CUVs but the Pajero had substance. Cut it some slack.
Theres even an exceed version of the Pajero for the really enthusiastic,
They’ll really plow through the overgrowth, too.😎
I hear these Pajeros are a real handful…
They have a stiff ride I hear
When I was writing a CC article on a 1989 Montero earlier this year, I looked into the naming issue quite a bit. But, being a non-Spanish speaker, I found it hard to cut through the complexities of slang, informalities and regional differences among the many Spanish-speaking countries. So I just cut that part out of my article, and left it that the car was renamed Montero in much of the world (well, except for the UK where that too was apparently deemed ungood so it was named Shogun).
Anyway, from what I recall, Mitsubishi’s official rationale for naming the car Pajero in the first place was that it was named after a species of South American wild cat. Indeed, a version of the Pampas cat has a Latin name of Leopardus colocola pajeros… known in some countries simply as the pajero cat (“gato pajero”). It seems like an awfully obscure reference for a car name. In my opinion (an absolute guess), the 1979 Pajero show car was so named by someone who had no idea what the term really meant, and the meaning wasn’t all that important for a Tokyo Motor Show one-off in the 1970s. But the name stuck, so when a production version emerged, the same name was used an no one bothered to do any background research on it. Oops.
I also believe that the car was actually sold as the Pajero — for a while at least — in Argentina. I’m not positive about this, and I’d love to hear from someone who knows definitively.
Regardless, it is pretty amazing that Mitsubishi stuck with the name over nearly four decades!
Well, this IS the company which released the Starrion – complete with horse symbol for the removal of doubt. (Never did release the Starrion Pajero, a bit intimidating, & anyway, clinic research told them everyone just thought its symbol was a horse with five legs).
Mention of the Cedric reminds of a funny tale from the time of its release in Australia. Keep in mind when reading that this is 1964, and the remote former convict colony is, to be kind about it, not at the vanguard of cultural advancement, shall we say. Keep in mind too that the Sydney Mardi Gras was a long way in the future, and gay rights – in fact, gay people – didn’t “exist”. Only clichés did.
A senior man from Nissan – let’s call him Mr Obachi – was present at the press conference unveiling. The name Cedric caused a good deal of immature giggling and sundry ribald mutterings between the motoring writers present. Eventually, one smart-alec piped up with a question:
“The name, Cedric, isn’t it a bit poofy?”
Through the translator came the question as to what “poofy” might mean.
“Er, well, homosexual”, said the now-embarrassed correspondent.
“Oh!”, came the response, translated. “Are there many homosexual in Australia?”
“Um, well….I s’pose”, said the correspondent, now thoroughly and rightly embarrassed.
“Oh, good!”,said Mr Obachi, beaming. “Then we sell many cars here!”
Its not just the Japanese. I believe that you can still buy an Onan generator. The idea of such a thing in my garage was always a little frightening to me.
Oh, come now – oh please, stop it – you aren’t fearful of an onan generator in your garage, as that would mean you are autophobic – and thus hardly likely to be on this site.
That said, as one raised Catholic, I’m sure I must have lived above several garages so equipped, because my eyesight is dreadful…..
This one is the right color.
I’ve always liked these, they went their own way with them.
I remember a year when all cars were referred to as “’69’s”.
No, that’s stretching it.
Oh.
Nissan Moco (Snort) and Mazda Laputa (The Whore) are other classics whenever the crazy auto naming subject is handled by the Spanish speaking media. Curiously, both seem to be rebadges of Suzuki’s key cars during the 2000s. Maybe an Spanish speaking marketing person was trying to get some self-gratification from a solitary job?
All this wordplay and nobody’s mentioned the irony that this truck was spotted in Bangkok of all places?
Thank you for putting the icing on the cake.