How To Tell a Russian to FxxK Off
Posted on 06 August 2007 by DeanHunt
Would you like to learn how to tell a Russian to FxxK Off in Russian?
Of course you would!
The answer is at Ebay.com… well, actually, the answer IS eBay.
Here is the back story:
eBay founder Pierre Omidyar named his company after California’s tech-savvy San Fransisco Bay area. “Ebay,” he was later dismayed to learn, means ‘Fuck Off’ in Russian.
Whoops.
It doesn’t seem to have harmed the company though 
They seem to be doing ok for themselves.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
well, your information is not correct
‘fuck off’ in Russian actually sounds like . So, ‘eBiz’ sounds more likely to ‘fuck off’ in Russian than eBAY
August 7th, 2007 at 4:56 am
Ivan, thanks for that… my source SHOULD have been reliable, but you are a real Russian, so I will take your word for it.
What does ebay mean in Russian then?
August 7th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I checked with my Russian connections and they said it is close - but not exact. She wouldn’t tell me exactly how it is pronounced, but I think that after a few drinks at the bar tonight she’ll crack. Oh yeah she’ll crack ….
August 7th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
It means nothing
Really.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I checkedwith my wife (beautiful Russian) and agrees with Ivan.
I do have a story about Purdue University. Some of my wife’s friends husbands and I went to an Ohio State Football game a few years ago; they played Purdue U. Of course OSU beat them; when we returned to the hotel my wife asked who one? and Who did they play? I told them Purdue U. They all began to laugh; when I asked what they were laughing about my wife was too modest to tell me; my 8 y.o daughter (who speaks fluent Russian, English and German) says “…Fart, daddy; Purdue means fart in Russian…” I laughed for hours it seemed. All I could think of is that a fine US engineering college is translated to Fart University.
Of course, it is the pronunciation and not the spelling.