Sure, Asia has some bizarre celebrity obsessions. Take, for example, Prison Break star Wentworth Miller’s fame in South Korea, where he is affectionately known as “Seok Ho-pil” (from the Korean name of veterinarian and philanthropist Dr. Frank Schofield, known for helping to liberate Korea from the Japanese Empire).

Name homonyms aren’t exactly the best reason for being famous, but it looks like that’s the best you’re going to get. Take Mark Zuckerberg. You’d think the precocious billionaire founder of Facebook — his fame (or perhaps infamy) buoyed by the recent release of The Social Network — would be huge in Japan, being a country known for technological innovation. Nope. A recent survey reveals that Japanese women think Mark Zuckerberg… is a type of hamburger.

Let us explain.

When sounded out in Japanese, “Zuckerberg” is ザッカーバーグ (“zakkaabaagu”). The second half of Zuckerberg’s name (“berg”) is translated as バーグ ”baagu,” the same as the “baagu” used in the word ハンバーグ (“hanbaagu”), meaning hamburger steak. Thus, the misunderstanding.

Here are the results of the survey:

35.6% said “Zuckerberg” is a hamburger.

19.6% believed that “Zuckerberg” was related to soccer, since the first part of his name, ザッカー (“zakkaa”) is a homonym of sorts for soccer, サッカー(“sakkaa”).

14.4% answered correctly, finally, or at least offered something close to the correct answer.

11% responded with something miscellaneous.

7.6% thought it was some kind of abbreviation.

One reason for The Zuckerburger’s relative anonymity may be due to Mixi, Japan’s more popular social networking service. Good for them. Zuckerberg’s probably wondering how to break into the market. The first step might be convincing Japan that he’s not a fast food combo.

(via Tofugu)

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