Microsoft Zune: Doesn't sound sweet to everyone: Microsoft's forthcoming digital music player, dubbed Zune, may make some Hebrew speakers gasp. The name for the device -- which will take on the Apple iPod when released later this year -- sounds like a vulgarity, specifically the "f" word, in Hebrew. [...]
Hebrew linguists are divided over Zune. Tsila Ratner, the head of Hebrew courses in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London, says Zune is an unsuitable name for a product. However, Haggit Inbar-Littas, a 30-year veteran Hebrew teacher with the London Jewish Cultural Center, says while the name is "ridiculous" and close to the bad word, it's unlikely to be mistaken.
