Article: When Words are Unjustly Used

This is one of my favorite themes in Latino marketing news: language flubs. Perhaps Cingular's little Spanish mishap can be blamed on the heated race to the Latino market that cell phone companies are engaged in these days.

No need to comment much on this piece from Marketing y Medios' Mariana King--the message is obvious. Enjoy!

When Words Are Unjustly Used
July 18, 2005
By Mariana C. King

Cingular Wireless is offering an intriguing international calling plan for Spanish-speaking Latinos. According to a bilingual flier, callers must apply "fair use" ("uso justo") to their phones in order to take advantage of cheaper dialing rates.

Who's to decide the fairness, or justness, of our phone calls? Will our conversations be monitored to test how fairly or justly we treat co-workers, friends and even grandma?

Flip the flier to the English side and the copywriter's plight is instantly recognizable. In English, "uso justo" becomes "just use," as in "just use Cingular World Basics." Just and justo, both from the Latin iustus, are "false friends" or "false cognates," words that share the same roots or sound alike but have different or opposite meanings.

In this case, just and justo are better explained as hypocritical friends since they share some meanings such as to describe a fair person (persona justa) or punishment (castigo justo).

But with the tricky, multimeaning word, you could also thank grandma for the new bilingual dictionary she sent you in a more colloquial and expressive way, as in "Just what I needed!" or "¡Justo lo que necesitaba!" Just also means "only," as in, "just call me" (sólo llámame) or, in this case, "just use the phone." To exasperate the problem, justo can also mean "tight," as in something that fits the body, well, tightly.

Unsuspecting readers who have been handed the promotional material may just find a reason to sign up for the plan. The glossy handout also purports an easy way to keep in touch with business associates, friends and family in more than 200 countries around the world (mantenerse en contacto con socios comerciales, amigos y familiares en más de 200 países).

Disregard for a moment that only 191 countries exist — or 193 depending on whether you count Taiwan and the Vatican.

Just another thought.

Marketing y Medios