No, seriously. There can be only one

2006-01-19

No, seriously. There can be only one

The massive multiplayer online RPG City of Heroes is launching in "Asia" (read: Korea, South).

From that day forth, a new alliance was forged as Foreshadow, Mirror Spirit, Spark Blade, Rose Star and Statesman became allies in the fight against evil everywhere.

(Especially Korea.)

If you watch the trailer all the way to the end, you will note that they appear to have renamed it "City of Hero" for the Asian market, presumably because they want to appeal even to young Korean kids who may not yet have learnt how English plurals are even formed, let alone spelt in special vowel-related cases. (I blame you, Wyatt!)

This is an example (I think) of something often overlooked: not all "Engrish" springs from ignorance. There are times when you can make more money from incorrect language* than you can from standard forms. He who has the fattest roll of won laughs best.

* Although, for all I know, omitting plurals is a standard feature of Korean English. If that's the case, the issue is just how long we have to wait until it gets recognized as a variant like Singlish and so on.

Popularity factor: 5

Anonymous:

Sure, look how much they made with "The Load of the Ring" in Japan. Plurals are redundant, seriously. Language is full of redudancy, though. -- HJ

Matt:

That one was especially great because a lot of the promo materials were in katakana and many folks thought it actually meant "Road of the Ring", which makes sense too. (When katakanafied, "Lord" and "Road" are the same: ロード)

Anonymous:

Yup, my friend thought of a boxing film. -- HJ

Will:

I'd say that most Engrish you see in major marketing schemes is nothing more than deft advertising. People don't speak Enligsh. They speak whatever tiny bits they remember from 7th grade. It all started with Coke's "Enjoy."

IbaDaiRon:

Will reminds me, my favorite ad copy must always remain "爽やか tasty, I feel Coke!"

I picture this nice young couple sitting on a park bench on a beautiful sunny day, enjoying their vending machine cups of cola, with myself as the nasty old lech stealing up on them from behind in a rain coat, a gutteral "heh heh heh" escaping my lips as I reach between them and twiddle my fingers in their drinks....

(No, I've never. I swear. But yes, I would.)

2006-01-19