GC2NHG4 Bite the Wax Tadpole (Traditional Cache) in Texas, United States created by TerraViators

This cache has been archived.

Vertighost: Since there has been no response by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note, I have archived this cache. Please note that caches that have been archived for maintenance issues or lack of cache owner communication are not eligible to be unarchived.

GC2NHG4 ▼

A cache by TerraViators Message this owner

Hidden : 3/26/2011

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

There exists a common urban legand in American culture that the transliteration of the script Coca-Cola® logo to Mandarin characters produced an unusual design meaning "bite the wax tadpole." Of course, this is mostly a myth but there is a sliver of truth to the story.

The Truth:

When Coca-Cola® entered the Chinese market in 1927, the company didn't have an official representation of the product's name in Mandarin. They needed to find four Mandarin characters whose pronounciations approximated the sounds "ko-ka-ko-la" without producing a nonsensical or adverse meaning when strung together as a written phrase.

Of the nearly 40,000 various characters in the Mandarin language, about 200 are pronounced with sounds forming the phoenetic "ko-ka-ko-la." With the compnay searching for a satisfactory combination of symbols, Chinese shopkeepers created signs that combined characters whose pronouciations formed "ko-ka-ko-la," but they did so without regard for the meanings of the written phrases being formed.

For example, the character for wax, pronounced "la," was used in many of the signs, producing the desired phoenetic "ko-ka-ko-la" but, when read, conveyed nonsensical meanings, such as "female horse fastened with wax," "wax-flattened mare," or the infamous "bite the wax tadpole."

The company avoided using many of the available 200 symbols for forming "ko-ka-ko-la" because of their meanings, including all charcters prounouncd "la." They compromised by using the character "lê," meaning "joy," and approximately pronounced as "ler." The company finally settled on a tranliteration of the name Coca-Cola® using the following charcters:

This representation literally translated as "to allow the mouth to be able to rejoice," but it acceptably represented the concept of a palatable soft drink. Finally, it was the real thing, with no wax tadpoles or female horses. The compnay registered the Mandarin trademark in 1928.

F T F honors go to the pantless lrbarrios.

Placed by a member of D.A.W.G.S.
Denton Area Wayward Geocache Seekers

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

'Pna' vg or nalzber tebhaqrq?

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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Bite the Wax Tadpole Traditional Geocache

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