Back in 1981 when I was hired to work as a copywriter in Tokyo there was a story about the writer I replaced. He was a bit of a wild man, and he had written a headline for Dai-Ichi Kangyo, a Japanese bank that has since been merged out of existence.
DKB wanted to portray itself as a friendly institution. Its Japanese slogan was "The Bank with a Heart." And its logo was a heart. Awww.
Well it seems that when the time came for DKB to run an ad in the local English language papers, this writer was assigned the job. And his headline read: Dai-Ichi Kangyo has a heart on for you.
And of course, none of the Japanese understood the joke. Until the letters started coming in after the ad ran. Which is one reason why there was a writer’s position open for me to take.
Of course, the Japanese continue to do this to themselves. There are lots of blogs and websites devoted to Janglish — a marvelous phrase that captures the jarring shock so many of these phrases cause native English speakers.
And so I wanted to share this latest little bit that seems in keeping with the old DKB debacle. Here is a photo of a store that sells used computer hardware. It may well be a cousin of the used bookstore known
as Book-Off (one of which is on East 41st Street in Manhattan, midtown’s own little Tokyo). One can save money by purchasing used, and thus getting a percentage off the original price — thus Book-Off. And for used electronic hardware, well of course, Hard-Off. I suppose when the chain decides to sell anything and everything used, they will simply call it Get-Off.
Getting back to “heart-on” though, this is a phrase I like. It suggests more than simply a response below the belt. Except that like the response below the belt that seems to happen independently of intelligence, a “heart-on” could simply be a crush or romantic obsession. I’m not sure which is the best use for this neologism, but I’m all for seeing its use become widespread.
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