Atsuo and Atsuko

In Japan, the best some advertising agencies can come up with for promoting hot canned drinks in the winter is "They're hot."
In the above ad, the text reads "Anato to hotto. Atsuo desu."
"Anata" = "you." "to" = "and." "Hotto" can be "hot," but it can also be read as "feeling relieved." "Atsuo" can be treated as a man's name, but it's made up of the kanji for "warm" and "man." "Desu" = "is."
The intended translation is "you and hot (can drinks) = hot guy."



For women, the kanji is "warm" + "ko" (child).

While the kanji 温 is used in 温泉 for "onsen" (hot spring), my software dictionary (NJ Star) says it's "nukui" (idiot, dummy, slow person). Japanese people I've talked to claim that they don't know the nukui reading, and 温 is supposed to be "on", for "warm" or "hot."

Still... "You and hot are pretty dumb."