Here it is! My very first guest post by linguist (and husband) Ramón Parrondo! If you like it, encourage him to get his own blog, to be called Banteralia, up and running quick smart!
Over the last four years, La Roja (the Spanish national soccer team) have been
assiduous visitors to the Plaza de Cibeles, having completed an unrivalled run of three major titles (two European Championships and a World Cup), a feat that attests to an unprecedented generation of highly talented players.
Recently, thousands of exultant fans cheered them on once again as the open top buses ploughed towards the pagan goddess who is habitually the epicentre of Real Madrid celebrations.
The fervour of national pride seemed to ameliorate the effects of one of the deepest economic recessions the country has ever endured. For a couple of nights, large crowds of revellers, draped in red and yellow, drank the city dry and danced on the streets ( since the fountain at the centre of the square was out of bounds and heavily guarded by police).
Marketers were, of course, keen to get in on the action. Adidas´ slogan, “La Roja is all in” was emblazoned on every available space:- not that 99% of the fans either knew or gave a toss about what it meant. Spaniards who “know” English as a foreign language would have found this particular message too obscure and difficult to understand….
…… which is just as well, or instead of celebrating a victory they may have felt the need to seek urgent medical attention for the jaded, depleted, exhausted players limping back to Madrid, thoroughly knackered!
Well, that´s what “to be all in” means doesn´t it? To the native speaker of English the phrase immediately has connotations of defeat and tiredness (rather than the specialised meaning that would readily be understood by poker players).
What on earth made the Adidas marketing “wizards” choose such an odd motto?
And more to the point, why did the Spanish sport authorities, surely eager to capitalise on such a historical occasion, forfeit the chance to show the world that, in addition to soccer talent, Spain’s other main export is its language and culture?
The answer to the first question has to be a dumbass approach to marketing. We´ve recently been subjected to campaigns by sports equipment multinationals enshrining a “cool-dude” approach to challenges (“Just do it”), or using reasonably intelligent attempts at word play (“Impossible is nothing”).
But the phrase “to be all in” is positively the worst one, especially when it is the centrepiece of the “biggest” (and most expensive, one might add) campaign in the history of the firm, as has been reported.
I can appreciate that the lingua franca status of English is sufficient grounds for putting the catchphrase in the global language, but wouldn’t it have been sweet if they had employed linguists to localise the slogan? (That would have pushed up the price, of course, but not by much, if my rates are to go by).
It also beggars belief that not a single, official body that organised the event (Madrid City Hall, the Spanish F.A. and various other government departments) objected to having an unintelligible slogan presiding over the celebrations of an unrivalled run of victories for the national side.
Even some of the most hallowed Spanish institutions which regulate language use and its promotion were oblivious to the incongruous display that was taking place on their very doorstep (the Royal Academy of Language and the Cervantes Institute are within a stone’s throw of Cibeles).
Shouldn’t the authorities have demanded that the sponsor’s slogan be localised?
What if Germany – perish the thought – had won the U.E.F.A. European Championship? Would Die Mannschaft also be “all in” on their return home? Or would “Les Bleus be “all in”?
Maybe …
… but you would never get “The Tartan Army is all in” splashed all over Edinburgh, out of native linguistic competence, of course. (Also because the Scots never win anything – then again, maybe the slogan´s apt for them since they often look “all in” to me!).
So, Adidas, take note. Here’s a free piece of localisation for the next triumph:
“La Roja va a por todas” – La Roja´s up for anything!
Let´s hope they´re up for Adidas.
Read all about La Roja:
Get your copy at Books4Spain
About Mo
Escotlan won hunners o medals in the gemms so shuttit!
(This is my carefully considered response).
Worse than this Adidas slogan…..although not by much…..was la Espe’s “Yes, we want!”.
Now, there’s a wee joab fur me!
I see your approach to the Carefully Considered Response convention in writing is almost identical to my own. Actually Espe´s slogan was a mistake. It was meant to be “You´re no getting nothing,” but they retracted it as ungrammatical. As for the “wee joab,” I think the whole lot of us with dos dedos de frente have a wee joab ahead of us trying to bring Spain into the 20th century, or more accurately prevent it from returning to the burning times. Hopefully our kids can drag it into the 21st.
I looked past the footbal to read Mr. Mo…start that blog, Ramon! well done.
I keep on at Mr. Mo to reply to you, Kara, but I think the post has gone to his head. He´s too big for us now …things will never be the same (sob …I´m crying, not saying Sonovabitch)!
Just had a thought – do you think it was the same marketing team that came up with “Pajero” for Mitsubishi?
I don´t doubt it. And for the benefit of those not up on Spanish profanity, a “pajero” is a “wanker.” Would you drive around in that? No, I didn´t think so!
An interesting piece, although the truthful but less than diplomatic comments about the Tartan Army looking “all in” , betray your lack of real insight into the psyche of Scottish football fans who have always been Winners, Their national team have not. It’s easy to support a Team when they win, but the Scottish supporters back their team in huge numbers come Hell or high water, and it’s usually Hell!
Also, Celtic, Aberdeen, and Dundee united have humiliated both Real Madrid and Barcelona on a number of occasions, however that’s all in the fast-receding past.
The douce citizens of Edinburgh are not renowned football supporters, tending to favour the oval ball game, and would rather be force-fed urine-soaked tapas morsels than have their venerable walls plastered with slogans of any description except those to do with the annual festival of the arts . Glasgow, on the other hand has no such hang-ups. I would suggest as a slogan for a winning Scotland team (fat chance,) ” Get It Right Up Yez !” But in the meantime, Thank you Spain for the wonderful memories.
Here´s where I have to come clean and admit that as Big Blog Boss I beefed up Rammy´s rather more diplomatic comment on the Tartan Army. I agree with everything you say, Saul (and would add that the urine-soaked tapas must be why the Edinburghers have that right pissed-off look on their faces). Your slogan is fab, no problem for the self-confessed, linguistically-challenged Mr. Grumpy to understand! (He is not, of course, thus challenged and even speaks a bit of your own alter lingo, German). Thanks for posting a comment on my humble blog! x
Thank you, Mo. My original text – before it was edited by Blog Boss – was certainly less aggressive, but it still contained a bit of a slagging, for which I know Scots are always game, albeit in good spirit. Mrs. Mo has transgressed, I’m sorry to say, one of the fundamental rules of football: you never deride or demean an opponent, whether actual or prospective, because on the day, given the right combination of variables, anybody can beat anybody. Having said that, I don’t see Cowdenbeath Nil winning the Scottish Premiership this coming season. Best.
You stole that “Cowdenbeath Nil” quip from me!
No. From Billy Connelly.
I beg to differ. I remember the precise moment in which I used it – invented it – and you asked me to marry you. (OK, the marry me bit is made up but the quip is all mine!).
And it´s Connolly, with an o.
Ach, it’s the same family name. Also spelt Connery, Conley, and other variations on the same Irish theme
Since both my grandparents on my mother´s side were Conne/ollies (a Connelly married a Connolly, though I don´t know which was which) the spelling is a metter of some importance to me!
Whereaboots are ye fae yersel? Kelvinside? Whit’s this with “metter”?
Yes, had you never noticed? All thet Parkhead pedigree palever was just to give my Kevinside origins a little street cred!
Intersting, I had assumed that the logo was something clever, beyond me, and had some meaning that would be relevant(or at least understood) by the natives.
(And it always depresses me when a non-native speaker of English uses longer words than me in the correct context, and which I can’t understand.)
Keep Blogging Mr Mo, and I’ll bring my thesaurus with me next time.
Glad you liked the post Mr.G. Mr. Mo aka Ramón does tend to use big English words (frightened off a lot of people in Parkhead, I can tell you). It depresses me too, or it would if I didn´t find him so useful as a walking thesaurus and dictionary and quicker than looking stuff up online. Anyway, you have your own way with words and humorous turns of phrase so don´t put yourself down!
That’s an interesting comment. If an English native speaker was not able to work out what the heck the slogan was about, then the marketeers have clearly got it wrong. 99% of the people jumping up and down in the Plaza probably knew each one of the words displayed, but they could equally make out nothing of what they meant. Still, that was the least of their worries, but for language anoraks like me, I thought a post was appropriate at this point. I’ll keep the long words to a minimum next time!
I´ll make sure of it – though I do like a bit of a long word myself from time to time! x
Adidas are German anyway, so havimng German Executives trying to market a German product, in the English language, on the back of the euphoria surrounding a Spanish team seems all Greek to me (anybody see what I did there…?)
Yes we did! Wordplay, much more interesting than footie play anyway! Maybe being “all in” in german means something good. I leave it with you and Saul Wonkey and your German Background to clarify!
Gaun yersel Rammie!! All in all a great first blog. But I have to take issue here… What do you mean “The Scots never win anything”? Did we not win the World Elephant Polo championship a few years ago? And of course you’d never see “The Tartan Army is all in”, but you would see “The Tartan Army is in all” (the papers, the news, the Scottish people’s hearts). But the Scotland football team I’d say is definitely “all in”. Or should that be “all out”?
I’d LOVE a linguistics based blog. Get on with it Ramón!
It should really be the man of the Mo-ment answering this, Ann. He will a bit later. See my reply to Saul Wonkey´s comment above, please, to discover that I´m to blame for that “never win anything” dig. I´m thankful he wrote about La Roja and not the Elephant polo event – I´m trying to keep a thin veneer of seriedad over this blog….. as for a slogan for the Tartan Army, I´d suggest “The Tartan Army´s All In The Pub.” I´ll get on to Mr. Mo about his blog since I´d like to see a decent linguistics blog too. Ta much for your comment, Ann. x
Thanks for this Ramón. Hell would freeze over before I´d write about football myself!