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What was that you said? Language varies around the world

Cracking an international market is a goal of most growing corporations. It shouldn’t be that hard, yet even the big multinationals run into trouble because of language and cultural differences. For example . . .

In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.”

Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger-licking- good” came out as “eat your fingers off.”

The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, “Salem - Feeling Free,” got translated in the Japanese market into “When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty.”

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.

This is just a sampling of advertising's one liners. Imagine what could be done with a five-to-seven minutes.

The greeting "hello" originated from "hollo", an Old High German verb meaning "to fetch," commonly used to hail a ferryman in the 12th Century.

Dan Barnard, White House Press Secretary (Table Topics Master), called a press conference for a White House staff meeting the last week of April. The staff (who had been appointed to their new positions only moments before Dan introduced his Table Topic theme) were grilled by reporters (members posing as...) who were armed with the tough questions of the day.

Below, Larry Woehl does his best to put a positive "spin" on his question as Wayne, Lori, and Tim wait their turn.