Russian, Nigerian joint venture to be called 'Nigaz'
You just can't make this stuff up, folks. The Russian energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5 billion deal with Nigeria's state-controlled NNPC to form a new company they've decided to call "Nigaz." Which raises a lot of questions. Such as: Will they have attitude? Are they 2Pac fans? But mainly: What in the hell were they thinking? UPDATE: The BBC reports that the name of the new venture has "sparked a racism debate."
2:26 PM * PERMALINK * 10 comments
Comments:
Hello! it's only Americans that have issues with that word. It is not a word anywhere else. Like the term African-American is a stupid US term. You don't hear African-British. and so on..
Whatever they were thinking, they were thinking it in Russian - in which language, "nigaz" doesn't sound like anything offensive whatsoever...
In gazprom terms, this is but an abbreviation: Ni(gerian) Gaz(prom). Gaz in Russian stands for natural gas (not petrol that americans are used to call that), and in the wird Nigaz the stress falls on the second syllable, while in Niggaz on the first.
Nigerian-Gaz= Nigaz
Regardless, it's funny in America, like the Chevy Nova was funny in Mexico. Remember your high school marketing class... "no va?"
When I read the word I pronounced it with a long "i" and the accent on the first syllable as any English speaking person should and nothing offensive crossed my mind. Maybe bigottry is in the eyes of the beholder.
I would venture to say that some of the people involved speak English and even know that word is offensive in America.
This is ridiculous. These are totally different languages and it's even pronounced differently. "nye-gaz" should be written NEGAS. Give me a break, the word "NEGUS" can also be mispronounced, and it was the title for KINGS of Ethiopia! From the ancient semitic "NGS" which means "to reign".
What if an American company has a name that might be mispronounced in some foreign country to sound like a foreign offensive word, would that suddenly be "inappropriate"? No one should get worked up over this
Gotta love how most of the comments are people jumping to the defense of a Russian energy conglomerate. A little too quick to defend it, in fact. Hiding some latent racism?
Gotta agree with the Nova guy. Just admit it, the name's funny. Doesn't matter if the people naming it were aware of its implications.
Hehe!
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