Life on Florida’s West Coast

Ironic Headline of the Day

“Firefighters Battle Flames At Caliente Nudist Resort”

Nudist resorts go to a lot of trouble to make sure people understand that a nudist lifestyle is not about sex or exhibitionism. They say it is about freedom and a natural lifestyle.

Nonetheless, I find the headline used by TBO.com ironic. This afternoon, a fire burned through the roof of a home at the Caliente Resort, which is a nudist (clothing-optional) community in Pasco County. The reporter found it important to note that as dozen of people stood watching the firefighters, “many were milling about the resort half-naked.”

It’s not the fact that hot “flames” were being battled at the “Caliente” resort. We all know caliente literally means heat or hot in Spanish. You have to be careful about literal translations, though.

Sometimes translating literally from one language to another can cause problems, as the Ford Motor Company found out when they launched the Ford Comet in Mexico. The “Ford Caliente”, as it was called in Mexico, was a huge marketing guffaw. “Caliente” is colloquially used to mean either “horny” or “prostitute”, like a female animal being “in heat”.

So, the Caliente Resort takes on a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?

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