Reading the background on the Tai Hing company and having seen the logo itself, a subtle similarity struck me this morning - Tai Hing and Tar Heel! Looking into the etymological background of both names, it would appear that Tai Hing has no direct translation or actual meaning, it is pretty much as Paul Vreede suggests, the chinese equivalent of Smith or Jones. Tarheel on the otherhand is a name given to the inhabitants of North Carolina and is believed to be both a reference to the states' production of Tar and also because during the American Civil War the soldiers of North Carolina "stuck to their bloody work as if they had tar on their heels", and when General Lee said, "God bless the Tar-heel boys," they took the name.
7
So i wonder if there is any direct connection between the two companies, apart from their first letters and a similar sounding name ? A lot of toy production facilities were based in China and it occurs to me that perhaps Tarheel was an anglicised version of Tai Hing to make the company a little more acceptable to western buyers ?
7
So i wonder if there is any direct connection between the two companies, apart from their first letters and a similar sounding name ? A lot of toy production facilities were based in China and it occurs to me that perhaps Tarheel was an anglicised version of Tai Hing to make the company a little more acceptable to western buyers ?
No comments:
Post a Comment