Colgate - colgar

Question

I got this message off a social network: Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”

I looked up colgar - to hang, but how does Colgate mean to hang yourself?

I want to refute this if I can.

Thanks.

People still joke about it. - h1deaway, May 11, 2010

That's absolutely hilarious! - TheSilentHero, Sep 2, 2010

Answer 1

The imperative of "colgar" is "¡colga!" = Hang!

"Colgarse" means "to hang oneself" like most verbs with -se mean verb + oneself

So "colgate" would not be derived from "colgar" but from "colgarse". Therefore "colgate" means: "Hang yourself"

That makes sense. I forgot about it being a reflexive verb. - Oblaidon, May 11, 2010

:) - chicasabrosa, May 11, 2010

Good, except that the imperative is "cuelga", not "colga" - unless you're in Argentina, where it's "colgá" - Gekkosan, May 11, 2010

The fact is, the whole "joke" only really works in Argentina - although people know the joke in most of Latin America. Still, everywhere else, "hang yourself" is "cuélgate". - Gekkosan, May 11, 2010

Gek, you should have posted this as an answer. - Oblaidon, May 11, 2010

I think Chica's answer is good enough, and just needed a bit of clarification. :-) - Gekkosan, May 11, 2010

Answer 2

Hang yourself = 'Cuélgate', not colgate!!!!

Colgate is a brand of toothpaste guys, and is not a word in Spanish!!

Colgarse is an irregular stem changing verb, the "o" changes to "ue" in some of its conjugations.

Answer 3

Is that right? Shouldn't it be cuélgate?

yes! - mountaingirl123, May 11, 2010

Answer 4

Colgate sells a lot of toothpaste in Bolivia. The name could be an advantage.

Answer 5

They seem to have overcome whatever marketing problem may have existed here in Ecuador: Colgate is the most commonly available brand of toothpaste.

Answer 6

----------- Machine Translation ---------------- hanging

----------- Original Text ---------------- colgante