Alex Saville e-mails me these pictures and to say"Brian, these days you are a wee bit nostalgic about old T&D covers, some showing Foden's, on BigLorryBlog. Can't say I have any love for any Sandbach product, whichever factory it came out of, however, whatever turns you on!"
Alex continues: "For those who get excited about Fodens, here's a photo of one tipping (No pun intended!) grain. I took the photo today at a mill in the Kingdom of Fife. I seem to remember a firm from south of the border called Bennett's. They hauled Kangaroo trailers with the logo 'Interoute', if my memory serves me right, to Spain & Portugal.They also used Fodens."
Now click through here for either a very interesting fact...or another urban myth...
Alex tells me: "It seems that 'Foden' in Portuguese is a 'bad' word, they removed the badges from the front of the cab. I've got news for them, it's a bad word round my house too!" Thanks Alex and thereby hangs a tell because Biglorryblog has also heard a similar story about the word Foden in Portugese...but is this story based on fact or is it another wonderful urban myth? Are there any Portugese readers or speakers--or former members of Foden's export dept--amongst Biglorryblog's anorak army? Let me know if you have the answer...only please don't post the word on your comment if it's true!
Indeed Foden is a rude word in Portugese. When I worked at Fodens, vehicles which were to be exported to Portugal were badged as "Poden".
The badge was similar to the Foden script but the F was formed into a P.
I remember seeing Poden badges in the despatch stores (as in spare parts ready for despatch) at Fodens Elworth Works.
I believe that Fodens sold locally were indeed badged as 'Poden'! The real name is something to do with female anatomy, I'm told.....
It is true. If you go to www.urbandictionary and type in foden you can see all the various meanings. The Portuguese word foder was the one we worried about!!
Indeed Foden is a rude word in Portugese. Its mean f**k.
In wikipedia
Foder is commonly used in popular language, and low colloquial slang, meaning "had sex."
In name calling, it is widely used to show contempt for someone or something. For example, you could say "F**k him!" or just "f**k it". The latter has extensive usage in low colloquial language and, depending on how it is used, may have provided a funny connotation (meaning "ah, let it go!") Until a deep insult to the person.
silva
that is incorrect! "foden" isn't a portuguese word at all
maybe you mean "foder" T_T that means f***. trust me i'm portuguese...
You are quite right of course, Luis, which is what Brian Lomas the Foden man says above. The problem was that the way Foden was written on the kite badge the "n" looked very much like an "r" so the name could easily be read as "Foder".
Native portuguese (and french) speaker here.
Final n doesn't exist in portuguese, it's replaced with m. That m turns into a n when the word is in plural form ("homem" -> man, "homens" -> men).
That said, to Portuguese speakers "Foden" looks like a misspelled "Fodem" which is the third person plural form of the present tense for "foder" (Fodem = They f*ck)... Silva's explanation of "foder" is correct.
And Poden = podem = they can.