Feb 2, 2007 09:44
17 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term
Works in: English to Russian
Denso
English
Other
Linguistics
semantics
Hello, everybody!
Our company starts a worldwide project called "Denso". As I'm not a native English speaker, I would appreciate any opinion on what this word might mean, your associations, etc.
I personally understand Denso as a derivative from the Latin word "denso" which exists in most of the languages and means 'dense'. That is Denso for me is something that unites people, makes the community dense, something that turns spirit into matter
My British friend told me that he understood Denso as 'dense', 'thick', 'stupid'. I'm sure that an American would understand it in some other ways.
What do you think?
Our company starts a worldwide project called "Denso". As I'm not a native English speaker, I would appreciate any opinion on what this word might mean, your associations, etc.
I personally understand Denso as a derivative from the Latin word "denso" which exists in most of the languages and means 'dense'. That is Denso for me is something that unites people, makes the community dense, something that turns spirit into matter
My British friend told me that he understood Denso as 'dense', 'thick', 'stupid'. I'm sure that an American would understand it in some other ways.
What do you think?
Responses
| 5 +7 | thicko |
Marie-Hélène Hayles
|
| 4 +2 | Thicko |
David Moore (X)
|
| 4 | dense |
Marcella S.
|
| 4 | stupid or difficult to make progress through |
Nedra Rivera Huntington
|
| 3 | probably neutral in US English... |
Ken Cox
|
Responses
+7
9 mins
Marie-Hélène Hayles
Native in English
&
English
medicine - chemistry - pharmaceuticals
Native in: English
Works in: Italian to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
8
Selected
thicko
My immediate reaction, like your British friend, would be a slang word meaning thick - we already use "thicko" in UK English, so I'd assume it was a further derivative of this. I don't think it's a great project name, to be honest.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
David Moore (X)
: As you say...
1 min
|
| agree |
Alison Jenner
: exactly my reaction
4 mins
|
| agree |
Vicky Papaprodromou
37 mins
|
| agree |
vixen
39 mins
|
| agree |
Alexander Demyanov
4 hrs
|
| agree |
Cilian O'Tuama
: as thicko as a bricko
5 hrs
|
| agree |
Alfa Trans (X)
9 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+2
9 mins
Thicko
I take it your friend is a British ENS? Then he has my support...
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Note added at 10 mins (2007-02-02 09:54:49 GMT)
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The fact that he is British, BTW, does not automatically make him an "ENS", just in case you wondered what the hell I was getting at...
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Note added at 10 mins (2007-02-02 09:54:49 GMT)
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The fact that he is British, BTW, does not automatically make him an "ENS", just in case you wondered what the hell I was getting at...
12 mins
Marcella S.
New Zealand
New Zealand
Native in English
&
English
Works in field
New Zealand
Reliable, fast, accurate
Native in: Portuguese (Variants: Brazilian, European/Portugal) 
, English (Variants: British, New Zealand, UK, US, Australian)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, English, and 1 more.
dense
Dense, as in "having a high level of density". For example, lead, gold, iron etc are dense substances, whereas gases are not dense.
The meaning you suggest - ie "thick" or "stupid" is a relatively common slang meaning of the word, but not its true meaning.
The meaning you suggest - ie "thick" or "stupid" is a relatively common slang meaning of the word, but not its true meaning.
43 mins
Nedra Rivera Huntington
United States
United States
Native in English
&
English
United States
Reliability, conscientiousness and style
Native in: English (Variants: US, UK) 
Works in: Spanish to English, English
stupid or difficult to make progress through
As an native English speaker and American, I would agree with your British friend on the "thick, thicko" idea, although we wouldn't use those terms in the States.
To me the word does not bring up positive associations, but those of difficulty and impeded progress.
To me the word does not bring up positive associations, but those of difficulty and impeded progress.
4 hrs
probably neutral in US English...
...but it is a registered company name (try googling denso),which may be a good reason not to use it (depending on the level of publicity you hope to achieve). Other than the association with the company, it probably won't have any particular association in the minds of most US English speakers (or at least those of my age and cultural background).
Generally speaking, you shouldn't assume that English speakers (especially in the US) have any general knowledge of Latin, so coinages based directly on Latin terms are not likely to be understood with the Latin meaning.
To give you an illustrative example, my wife once came home with a cosmetic product made in the US (a skin cleaner if I recall correctly) named Ultra Septic. The name was presumably chosen based on the idea that if antiseptic is good, ultraseptic is even better. I almost fell off my chair when I saw it.
Generally speaking, you shouldn't assume that English speakers (especially in the US) have any general knowledge of Latin, so coinages based directly on Latin terms are not likely to be understood with the Latin meaning.
To give you an illustrative example, my wife once came home with a cosmetic product made in the US (a skin cleaner if I recall correctly) named Ultra Septic. The name was presumably chosen based on the idea that if antiseptic is good, ultraseptic is even better. I almost fell off my chair when I saw it.
Discussion
the word probably is of latin origin. HOWEVER, in the case it is not,
in Japanese (my other language), denso means "transmit", which
may or may not be relevant to your company's project.
HTH!