I'm thinking of buying the Sik Bay just for the translation of the name. In its own defense, apparently there is a very similar word, according to Google anyway. "Şik" (note the cedilla, the little diacritical mark below the S) as it is spelled on the box means "stylish." So the translation is actually "Mr. Stylish" or "Stylish Mister." But if you don't include the cedilla, (as most English speakers would do since it's not a normal part of our vernacular... And in fact most of my iPhone keyboards don't even include this accent mark)... Well, then, instead of "Mr. Stylish" you get something much more unexpected.
I have to assume. Just checked Orak, and it is totally straight forward... it means 'sickle'. Seems weird to screw up on one, but not the other
Yeah, who would have guessed? Out of all the possible words it could have translated as. In the process, this has been what my former college professor would have deemed a "teachable moment." Meaning that I have also learned that you shouldn't call someone Turkish a "peach", nor should you play the "look, I just stole your nose" game with a Turkish child (nor make the American Sign Language gesture representing the letter "T") since this makes what they call "the fig," a rude gesture in Turkish and Slavic cultures. You learn something new every day.
It is still so weird! I get it, I really do. But even with the understanding that the little squiggle brings, it still seems weird to name a product something which basically breaks down as a fantastic language based pun. It really is fascinating. One hand, Mr. Stylish, other hand, cover the squiggle with your thumb (or choose to ignore it), and boom, it becomes Mr. Something Much Different. English is boring. Our words can be subtle, but they just mean what they mean. I remember back in college advertising class, learning about the corporate teams of linguists and lawyers that get paid to make sure product names aren't incredibly rude (or nonsense) phonetic translations in local dialects. Maybe I am a boring guy, my son certainly thinks so, but I find it all super interesting.
Please share once you find out! I think @Shotwell has solved the mystery, but I would still be interested in a native translation.
So I gave the Yuma a shot today. I purposely haven't dug too deeply into this thread, because I actually didn't want it to unduly influence my view of the Yuma once I tried it. (Aside: my iPad keeps trying to autocorrect Yuma to "tuna," which gives me a chuckle.) So all I have really read in this thread up to now (excepting the part about the Șick razor) is that the Yuma in question seems to have one side that is more aggressive, and that a handmade soap has been included in this box. So this morning I broke out the salsa bowl, my #6 brush (appropriately) and a Voskhod blade from my stock. I figured I shaved with that brand for 30 days back in November and knew how it should feel. The soap scared me more, frankly, than the Yuma. It appeared grainy at first, and seems to have chunks in it... Like pineapple ice cream from the Thai place near my house, or like the Ambrosia salad my mom used to make for family get-togethers. (To the soap creator: my vote for a name is Ambrosia.) However, the soap lathered very well, though it was not as white as many... Certainly not as white as Arko or even the Wilkinson stick after lathering. It created copious amounts of lather -- very thick, not very airy, and remarkably smooth given that I was sure it had pineapple chunks in it. I would say compared to Omega Crema Di Barba (one of my favorite "croaps") it had just as much cushion... But maybe not as much slip. But what it lacked in slip it more than made up for with scent... Light, tropical, almost coconutty like a pina colada. I'd definitely use it again, and could see paying for it. As for the Yuma, it has both good and bad points. It is light weight, almost too light, but has decent balance. It definitely has some quality control issues, but is superior to both the RiMei and the Junjie, two other cheap razors I have tried. Took a full three passes to get what I would call a DFS on my head and neck. But I would say it was a better performer than I had expected. I would say it is a bitmilder than a ball-end tech but more aggressive than a Lord or Krona. I may give it a try again tomorrow if I can keep my hands off my new Barbasol. Going to give the Treet blade a try one of these days too. I'm intrigued by the black carbon steel.
You should do some of these group projects... We end up really learning about something, with a lot of laughs. It's my favorite thing on TSD.
I disagree with you wholeheartedly and rather vigorously. English is even more prone to these things. We have our own little squiggle that changes meanings completely. We call it a comma. Let's eat Grandpa. Let's eat, Grandpa. We're going to learn how to cut and paste kids. We're going to learn how to cut and paste, kids. Unable to eat diahrrea. Unable to eat, diahrrea. Then there was the magazine cover that said Rachel Ray "finds inspiration in cooking her family and her dog" Commas definitely needed there. I could go on from here but won't.
That is what I mean by English being subtle. Sublime even. But because of that very subtlety, English is not capable of the duality puns possible in other languages. The puns recently banned in China are not the weak little things we call puns. And they are hard to explain to a lot of native English speakers. Basically it consists of a word which is exactly the same in pronunciation but could have several meanings based on context. I know I am probably not making it clear... have some cut and paste explanation; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophonic_puns_in_Mandarin_Chinese And honestly, I find English wordplay much more clever, maybe because I am able to comprehend it, but I find this kind of homophone punning super interesting. Mostly because it is so very alien to how my ingrained sense of language functions.