t's game over for the Buick LaCrosse in Canada. A General Motors executive yesterday admitted that the future Buick model -- which is set to debut late next year -- will be re-named in Canada after GM learned LaCrosse is a Quebec slang term for masturbation.

The new mid-size sedan, which will replace the Buick Regal, will still go by the name LaCrosse in the U.S.

GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz, who was in Toronto yesterday to address a gathering of GM dealers, said he wasn't aware of LaCrosse's racy roots although he speaks French and spent three years living in Paris.

"I thought I knew every expression existing in the French language for self-gratification, including the crudest ones known to man," said the outspoken Lutz.

He told journalists the proposed name for the new Buick has caused "a slight problem with your francophone fellow Canadians."

This isn't GM's first name snafu. Sales of the popular Chevy Nova stalled when the vehicle was shipped to Spanish-language countries, where "Nova" translated to "doesn't run."