The Bellman.
sell-out zone
Friday, July 29, 2005
Zwichenzug media watch, truth in advertising edition
I keep seeing a television commercial for the Chevy Silverado which includes the sentence, "The truth is, there's no word in Japanese for pickup truck."
My initial, snarky, reaction was that there's no word in English for pickup truck either, since 'pickup truck' is two words. I also wondered if 'pickup' was really a word. Turns out that 'pickup' is pretty well attested, by the way.
All and still, don't the Japanese make a whole lot of pickup trucks? Don't they have to refer to them from time to time? Surely they don't just say things like, "Hey Yoshihiro, this shiny vehicle with an open body, low sides, and a tailboard sure has an impressive power to weight ratio."
My initial, snarky, reaction was that there's no word in English for pickup truck either, since 'pickup truck' is two words. I also wondered if 'pickup' was really a word. Turns out that 'pickup' is pretty well attested, by the way.
All and still, don't the Japanese make a whole lot of pickup trucks? Don't they have to refer to them from time to time? Surely they don't just say things like, "Hey Yoshihiro, this shiny vehicle with an open body, low sides, and a tailboard sure has an impressive power to weight ratio."
