Hugo Chavez’s “Bolivarian revolution” has just revolted its way into cell phone design, producing a US$13.95 handset/MP3 player in Venezuela with Chinese parts. Chavez has big plans for the phone, which he wants to export to the world, but much of the talk so far has focused on its name, “Vergatario”—as one YouTube commenter put it, “creo que la traducion corecta es: Big Wang.”
“Verga” is a Venezuelan slang term for “penis.” The fact is glossed over in some Spanish newspaper accounts, which say that the phone’s name only signifies “excellence.” But, as The Guardian points out, the root word retains prominence. And Chavez can’t keep himself from chuckling when he says it.
As other Spanish-language sources have noted, the phone is already known as the “penis cellphone” in the US, and Chavez isn’t above making jokes about the name. “Whoever doesn’t have a Vergatario is nothing,” he said.
That’s all odd enough, but the phone’s launch was then timed to coincide with… Mother’s Day, and Chavez made a big show of calling his mother on one of the devices during a TV appearance.
The government charges that “Venezuelan private media have distorted the name of the cell phone made in Venezuela, the Vergatario, so as to give it a sexual connotation and to try to hold back the great success the appliance has had in the country.” “Vergatario” means only “optimal, outstanding, incredible or of the best quality,” and the Royal Spanish Academy agrees.
“Therefore, the same entity that clarifies the meaning of all the words in Spanish dismisses any other type of meaning for ‘vergatario,'” says the government, though one is immediately reminded of the “teagbagging” movement here in the US for an example of how just going to the dictionary isn’t enough to avoid sexual innuendo.
Let’s talk quality
Despite the name, early batches of the device are selling. The first 5,000-unit shipment sold out quickly.
According to the government, “The quality and high demand of the Vergatario was evidenced the same day it appeared in the market, when thousands of Venezuelans made lines since early in the morning to purchase the phone, which caused that before midday the mobile phone run out of stocks.”
The phones are produced by a state-owned manufacturing firm called Fábrica Venezolana de Telecomunicaciones (and known as Vetelca). Venezuela has an 85 percent stake in the factory, and Chinese firm ZTE has the other 15 percent and will supply most of the parts. According to the Venezuelan government, most of Vetelca’s assembly jobs will go to women, and the company believes it can produce one million handsets a year.
As its price suggests, the device is basic but does offer MP3 playback, phone, camera, radio, and text messaging. Chavez’s goal is to produce the cheapest phone in the world, offering a device that even the poor can afford. It’s no iPhone, but that’s exactly the point.
Also, the phone is not used for espionage. Just ask the head of Vetelca, Carlos Audrines. “The issue of espionage is quite farfetched,” he said. “This telephone has basic features as stopwatch, address book, calculator; it serves to communicate. That thing of espionage is too farfetched.”
Hugo Chavez’s “Bolivarian revolution” has just revolted its way into cell phone design, producing a US$13.95 handset/MP3 player in Venezuela with Chinese parts. Chavez has big plans for the phone, which he wants to export to the world, but much of the talk so far has focused on its name, “Vergatario”—as one YouTube commenter put it, “creo que la traducion corecta es: Big Wang.”
“Verga” is a Venezuelan slang term for “penis.” The fact is glossed over in some Spanish newspaper accounts, which say that the phone’s name only signifies “excellence.” But, as The Guardian points out, the root word retains prominence. And Chavez can’t keep himself from chuckling when he says it.
As other Spanish-language sources have noted, the phone is already known as the “penis cellphone” in the US, and Chavez isn’t above making jokes about the name. “Whoever doesn’t have a Vergatario is nothing,” he said.
Chavez called his mother on El Vergatario
That’s all odd enough, but the phone’s launch was then timed to coincide with… Mother’s Day, and Chavez made a big show of calling his mother on one of the devices during a TV appearance.
The government charges that “Venezuelan private media have distorted the name of the cell phone made in Venezuela, the Vergatario, so as to give it a sexual connotation and to try to hold back the great success the appliance has had in the country.” “Vergatario” means only “optimal, outstanding, incredible or of the best quality,” and the Royal Spanish Academy agrees.
“Therefore, the same entity that clarifies the meaning of all the words in Spanish dismisses any other type of meaning for ‘vergatario,'” says the government, though one is immediately reminded of the “teagbagging” movement here in the US for an example of how just going to the dictionary isn’t enough to avoid sexual innuendo.
Let’s talk quality
Despite the name, early batches of the device are selling. The first 5,000-unit shipment sold out quickly.
According to the government, “The quality and high demand of the Vergatario was evidenced the same day it appeared in the market, when thousands of Venezuelans made lines since early in the morning to purchase the phone, which caused that before midday the mobile phone run out of stocks.”
The phones are produced by a state-owned manufacturing firm called Fábrica Venezolana de Telecomunicaciones (and known as Vetelca). Venezuela has an 85 percent stake in the factory, and Chinese firm ZTE has the other 15 percent and will supply most of the parts. According to the Venezuelan government, most of Vetelca’s assembly jobs will go to women, and the company believes it can produce one million handsets a year.
As its price suggests, the device is basic but does offer MP3 playback, phone, camera, radio, and text messaging. Chavez’s goal is to produce the cheapest phone in the world, offering a device that even the poor can afford. It’s no iPhone, but that’s exactly the point.
Also, the phone is not used for espionage. Just ask the head of Vetelca, Carlos Audrines. “The issue of espionage is quite farfetched,” he said. “This telephone has basic features as stopwatch, address book, calculator; it serves to communicate. That thing of espionage is too farfetched.”
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