Oops, Tesco forgot to consult a translator… June 12, 2012
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.trackback
Photo from The Daily Mail
Folks at the UK’s largest retailer, Tesco, were embarrassed after an Italian student who is studying in England pointed out that there were numerous offensive phrases in a picture of Italian meats on the packaging of their Italian spaghetti bolognaise. Tesco has since apologized and confirmed the other words innocently describe wild boar, buck, deer and goose meats, but revealed the naughty truth about Coglioni di Mulo and Le Palle de Nonno. Guess they should have asked a native speaker before using the photo. Be sure to read the article for more information (a second article can be read here). Thanks to Robin Bonthrone for sharing the articles.
Musings from an overworked translator 
Are you sure it’s wrong, Jill? I mean, Italian students don’t know everything either.
Hi Jill,
I can imagine that for an italian speaker it is quite surprising to see those words on a ready meal. However, I have to say that those are just two types of salami you can find in Umbria. I was actually there last year and took a similar picture… So I wouldn’t say it was “an interesting sense of humour”, nor “a serious insult” like it says in the articles. But, yes, i would have chosen a different picture. 😉
Oops!
I’m surprised that such a large company would advertise something without checking the meaning first!