An amusing bit of trilingual word play.

[randomness]

There's a Mexican fast food chain in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico which my friends refer to as "Octopus Bag Shop". Why such an outlandish nickname?

They tell me that "Tako Kabanya" (蛸鞄屋) means "Octopus Bag Shop" in Japanese. That's relevant because "Tako Kabanya" sounds very much like "Taco Cabaña". The fast food chain has Anglicized the spelling and pronounciation to Taco Cabana.

It's still funny when they ask if you want to go in on a dinner order from Octopus Bag Shop.

Edit: ndrtoon posts that the phrase he and his brother came up with was actually "Octopus Bag Store". I'm glad to have a correction from one of the originators.

Comments

[alexinbeijing.livejournal.com]

Muahaha, that's great! Hey, is there any chance you might want to come to Beijing for a bit? I have great food places of many stripes to show you, and you always have a place to stay...

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Want to, absolutely. Can, probably not until the spring at the earliest. :(

Thanks for the offer of a place to stay! And mmmm, food. :)

You just came up in conversation last night, in fact. I have a friend who's looking for a translation and I figured you'd have some ideas.