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Worst name for a Coaster?

Gazza

Giga Poster
Pokemaniac you need to start a thread where you translate ride names.

I get the joke you made re mean streak, but are you really saying there is no Norsk equivalent for "mean" as in being nasty/unkind?
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I get the joke you made re mean streak, but are you really saying there is no Norsk equivalent for "mean" as in being nasty/unkind?

It could also be "unkind achievement" or "bad line" or something to that effect if you translated each word separately. The word "streak" has two meanings in English after all.

And sure, let's do a few more. To reiterate, those are English coaster names translated into Norwegian and translated back as directly as possible (to present the names the way they would sound to a Norwegian speaker).

Wildfire = "Forest fire"
Boulder Dash = "Battle rock run" (the common Norwegian word for "boulder" is literally "battle rock", owing to folklore about trolls throwing them in battle with each other).
Boulder Dash (alternate) = "Moved block run" (the scientific word for "boulder" would be "moved block", as boulders down here are usually residuals from glaciers).
Wicker Man = "Basket man" or "Straw man". The term is hard to translate, actually. You could go for the Norwegian title of the movie, which is "King of fools". Seems appropriate.
Outlaw Run = "Peaceless run"
Green Lantern = "Green lamp"
Millennium Force = "Thousand-year power"
Apollo's Chariot = "Apollo's wagon"
Hoosier Hurricane = "Inhabitant of Indiana hurricane"

The word "Roller coaster" is a bit of a moutful in Norwegian too: "Mountain and valley track". This really jumbles up any names that rely on the word "Coaster" to sound cool.

Overall point being, bad coaster names from places like China could have a very logical reason for being called as such. The original name might not correspond to a word in the English language, or it is dependant on cultural context to make sense. Imagine for a second how ridiculous "Seven Dwarfs Mine Train" would sound if you had never heard about Snow White. Or "Wonder Woman Golden Lasso" if you never read comics. "SooperDooperLooper" is an... uh, acknowledged play on words in English, but it would be meaningless drivel if you tried to translate it to a language that neither contains "Super" nor "Looper". At best you'd get something like "Great Like Really Great Going Upside Down Thingy". With that in mind, names like "Soaring with Dragon" or "Battle for Jungle King" don't necessarily sound that bad, do they?
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Overall point being, bad coaster names from places like China could have a very logical reason for being called as such. The original name might not correspond to a word in the English language, or it is dependant on cultural context to make sense. Imagine for a second how ridiculous "Seven Dwarfs Mine Train" would sound if you had never heard about Snow White. Or "Wonder Woman Golden Lasso" if you never read comics. "SooperDooperLooper" is an... uh, acknowledged play on words in English, but it would be meaningless drivel if you tried to translate it to a language that neither contains "Super" nor "Looper". At best you'd get something like "Great Like Really Great Going Upside Down Thingy". With that in mind, names like "Soaring with Dragon" or "Battle for Jungle King" don't necessarily sound that bad, do they?
In fact, thinking of it this way neither does "Colourful 4 Ring Roller Coaster". :p
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
Fascinating stuff, Poke'.
But 'Average Distance' is still the one. Can't wait to ride it in June! :D
 

Peet

Giga Poster
Wonder Island in St Petersburg has a Blue Fire clone called Velikolukskiy Myasokombinat - not sure what it means, Google seems to suggest something to do with a meat processing plant... anyway they then opened an Intamin 10-inversion coaster called Velikolukskiy Myasokombinat-2!
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Wonder Island in St Petersburg has a Blue Fire clone called Velikolukskiy Myasokombinat - not sure what it means, Google seems to suggest something to do with a meat processing plant... anyway they then opened an Intamin 10-inversion coaster called Velikolukskiy Myasokombinat-2!
The name is basically product placement. Velikolukskiy is the name of the town/area, and Velikoluksiy Myasokombinat (yes, the second word means meat-processing plant) is a company that now makes several food products.
 
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