I did not know the U.S KFC uses that logo (Colonel Sanders wearing apron) already. Japan KFC was using this old logo and finally they are changing it beginning this month. This means Sanders takes off 16 years when he made his original recipe. Hmm, I envy him. What do you call KFC? We call it "Ken-ta" (sounds like Japanese boy's name). Yes, we say "Let's go Ken-ta!" Some said Kansai people call it "Ken-chiki" but I am not sure about it. How do you call KFC in your country? How about McDonalds? Like I wrote before, in north area from Kanto we call it "Mac" but in Kansai area it is called "Macdo".
KFC, McDonalds, of course Coke, they are big brands that everybody knows, but there are more common American brands, actually many people use the brand as the name of common items. It is "Band-Aid". The adhesive bandage is officially called "Bansoko" in Japanese, but some (including me) call such type of adhesive bandage just "Band-Aid"even though it has apparently different name or different makers.(again! the cat!!)
However such common names are different in each area. Prof. Shinozaki of Tokyo Women's Univ. researched "how to call adhesive bandage." Then here is the map. In Kanto area Band-Aid is the most popular name since 1959. But in Kyushu area, people call it Ribatape which is a local maker's product. In Hokkaido, they call it Sabio. Sabio is a Swedish maker and around 20 years ago, it captured No.1 of the market share in Hokkaido. In 2002, it went out of production, still people call tape "Sabio" in Hokkaido. You can tell a person's hometown from how he calls the adhesive bandage. This also happen s in the case of "Stye" I 've read (I call it "Monomorai, " now I understand I should not write "we call it.") I will write about this later.
In Russia, we usually call KFC just like Americans do — "Key-Ef-Cee", but it's different with McDonalds — either it's "McDuck" or, well, a whole bunch of puns and derivatives of the original name.
Posted by: jinxy | Friday, January 05, 2007 at 03:43 PM
Heh...
In Singapore, we call adhesive bandages " Handy Plas" which simply means handy plasters. Hur.
Your entries are indeed interesting! -smiles-
Posted by: Lip | Monday, November 06, 2006 at 09:17 PM
Hi there
thank you for your comments, since it will be interesting to search how to call band-aid in the world wide. It will be a good ad of Johnson and Johnson.
Posted by: Mari | Monday, November 06, 2006 at 06:27 PM
They shortened the name to KFC in the US for the following http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Fried_Chicken#Name>reasons.
Posted by: goemon | Monday, November 06, 2006 at 02:56 PM
Your post about what adhesive bandages are called in Japan made me think of this website for what we call soda in America.
http://www.popvssoda.com/
Posted by: Kris | Saturday, November 04, 2006 at 10:30 AM
Interesting post, Mari.
In England a vacuum cleaner is a "hoover" after the ubiquitous maker, as a toasted sandwich maker is often a "breville". Adhesive tape is usually "sellotape", but we don't use the term Band-Aid - they're just "plasters".
Couldn't tell you about fast food names though.
Posted by: Overoften | Saturday, November 04, 2006 at 08:46 AM
In Australia they call it Macca's for McDonalds. I still prefer to call it McD(ee) as how most Malaysians do.
Posted by: Ãngelu§ | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 10:12 PM
in indonesia sometimes we call it Kentucky, so its like 'lets eat Kentucky'. or just spell it by alphabets.lets call KFC~ hehe
Posted by: wiwin | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 05:43 PM
We call it KFC, McDonalds, and Band-aid. A lot of brand names just kind of stand in for the product as a whole, like Kleenex for tissues or whatever. One brand becomes so ubiquitous that no other ones matter. It looks like that's how it is in Japan, too.
Posted by: Emma | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 06:52 AM
Yes, we just say K F C, sounding the letters. I've heard it referenced as "the Colonel" though, if someone asks, "Where is that chicken from?" someone may reply, "the Colonel" ^^
Posted by: Ryan A | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 03:14 AM
That's a nice new logo, the Colonel is ageing backwards! Speaking of the KFC logo, I once saw a billboard with this logo on it (http://www.realtylinkproperties.com/uploads/logos/kfc.jpg) and couldn't understand why the Colonel had such a tiny body! It still looks funny to me even though I've figured out it's his bowtie not his body.
Posted by: Esther | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 01:41 AM
in america we call "KFC," "KFC" or sometimes the full name, "Kentucky Fried Chicken." same goes for Mcdonalds.. we call it by its full name or "Micky D's."
Posted by: Katy | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 12:20 AM