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Japanese McDonald’s Picks A ‘Yucky’ Name For Its Burger

Brian Ashcraft Avatar
Brian Ashcraft
Japanese McDonald’s Picks A ‘Yucky’ Name For Its Burger

Recently in Japan, McDonald’s unveiled a new hamburger with a most unfortunate name that sounds exactly like “yucky” in English.

[Image: McDonald’s Japan]

This is the “Yakkii” (ヤッキー or yakkii) burger as in “shogayaki” or “pork fried with ginger” (“shoga” is “pork”, while “yaki” is “grilled” or “fried”).

But in Japanese, when people refer to shogayaki, they say, well, “shogayaki”. So, the concept behind the burger’s name seem to be giving it a nickname, like how the Egg Cheese Burger was turned into “Eguchi”. But yakkii? Really?

People in Japan have been pointing out this bad burger name, noting that “yakkii” sounds like “yucky” and explaining what “yucky” means in Japanese. The definition most people are referring to is “mazui” (そごくまずい), or “very unappetising”.

Since McDonald’s is writing the burger’s name in katakana, which is used for foreign words, it does look like the name is “yucky” written phonetically in Japanese!

This burger does look yucky.

Goodness.

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