Hellboy
Well-known member
I just vistited the japaneese musical instrument retailer Ishibashi´s website and got myself a good laugh. It´s rather well known that asian people do find it hard to pronounce the letter R and the now classic "pling loll" instead of "spring roll" is just one example. Same thing with frensh speaking people having a hard time to pronounce the letter H, saying "´ello" instead of "Hello". I was down in africa a couple of years ago and the locals laughed their heads off when I tried to say things in their language. And americans trying to say things in frensh..... "Mercy buckets" instead of "merci beaucoup"..... Good fun. So we all have the same problem with foreign languages most often and it can be rather amuzing for our fellow foreign friends and for ourselfs. Now these problems seem to transfer into writing as well every once in awhile.
Ishibashi sell to customers outside Japan as well so they have a english site too. And they sell Musicman basses. They have three (3) models up on their site.
A Bongo is a fine instrument indeed and they don´t seem to have any problems with it since the model name doesn´t have a R in it.
Now there IS a R in Stingray..... Big problem. So to make things easier for themselfs and the japaneese customers, they have called it "Sting lei" instead. Problem solved. No R in Sting lei. Good name in Japan on a fantastic instrument.
They sell Sterling basses too. And there IS a R in Sterling as we all know. A problem needs to be solved! So they´ve changed it. To something else. I won´t speculate in WHY they´ve choosen this particular, similar but still different, name on the Sterling model but they´ve called it "Stalin" on their site. Call me silly but I laughed when I saw it. Josef Stalin was a rather naughty person and all I´ve ever heard about Sterling is that you´ll have a hard time trying to find a nicer person around. Stalin had a good set of hair. Sterling has.....less hair. Political views are most likely not very similar. Whopsi...... I´m speculating...... Sorry. Will stop now.
Ishibashi - Musicman
//Jan
Ishibashi sell to customers outside Japan as well so they have a english site too. And they sell Musicman basses. They have three (3) models up on their site.
A Bongo is a fine instrument indeed and they don´t seem to have any problems with it since the model name doesn´t have a R in it.
Now there IS a R in Stingray..... Big problem. So to make things easier for themselfs and the japaneese customers, they have called it "Sting lei" instead. Problem solved. No R in Sting lei. Good name in Japan on a fantastic instrument.
They sell Sterling basses too. And there IS a R in Sterling as we all know. A problem needs to be solved! So they´ve changed it. To something else. I won´t speculate in WHY they´ve choosen this particular, similar but still different, name on the Sterling model but they´ve called it "Stalin" on their site. Call me silly but I laughed when I saw it. Josef Stalin was a rather naughty person and all I´ve ever heard about Sterling is that you´ll have a hard time trying to find a nicer person around. Stalin had a good set of hair. Sterling has.....less hair. Political views are most likely not very similar. Whopsi...... I´m speculating...... Sorry. Will stop now.
Ishibashi - Musicman
//Jan
