iPhone 7 slogan a bit of a cock-up in Hong Kong

THE tech giant launched its latest gadget this week with the slogan ‘This is 7’. But the phrase gets awkward fast in Hong Kong.

APPLE’s iPhone 7 slogan was seriously lost in translation in Hong Kong.

The tech giant launched its latest gadget this week with the slogan “This is 7”, but it turns out the phrase doesn’t quite work if you say it in Chinese.

There were three versions, in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Quartz put them back in English, and their literal meanings are: “7, is here” in China; “Exactly is 7” in Taiwan; and “This, is exactly iPhone 7” in Hong Kong.

Here’s where it gets funny.

China and Taiwan both speak Mandarin, while Hong Kong speaks Cantonese. In Cantonese, the word “seven” is also slang for “penis”.

In that sense, you could say it’s a bit of a cock-up.

Interestingly, it’s not particularly offensive, as the colloquialism is often used to describe something hilarious or mock someone in a friendly way.

The catchphrase ‘This is 7’ is translated differently in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Apparently Hong Kong’s tech-enthusiasts are enjoying the joke.

One Facebook post, which has more than 40,000 reactions, says: “Without a 3.5mm ear bud jack, this is exactly penis”.

You’d think they’d have learned from Samsung, whose Galaxy Note 7 — aside from occasionally exploding — translates to “a stick of penis” in Cantonese.

It could be worse. Car manufacturer Ford once used the catchphrase “Every car has a high-quality body”, which became “Every car has a high-quality corpse” in Belgium.

Either way, now that iPhone 7 and Note 7 are out, tech companies should be safe from penises.

Of course, that’s unless the number eight means something cheeky as well?

Originally published as iPhone 7 slogan a bit of a cock-up in Hong Kong