Growing up, portable cassette players were always called “freestyles” here. I never knew it was a marketing thing, or that some other countries also objected to the naming.

this is “original research”, which means i dicked around on the internet archive for half an hour. it may be wrong.

  • @JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
    6•16 days ago

    Very interesting, well done for the research!

    What we can surely all agree is that all these names, especially Walkman (Bill Bryson: “it’s not a man and it doesn’t walk”) were terrible.

    • lime!OPEnglish
      5•16 days ago

      it’s uh… wasei-eigo. it was meant to, quote,

      introduce the idea of “Japanese-ness” into global culture, synonymous with miniaturization and high-technology.[60] The “Walk-men” and “Walk-women” in advertisements were created to be the ideal reflections of the viewing audience.[61] Sony implemented a marketing strategy, hiring young adults to walk around in public wearing a Walkman.

      naturally, the marketing agencies in some countries didn’t really get it (see also: the Honda Pussy) and suggested different names