Category:
Odd Names
Odd Names
Mrs. Sparrow found a sparrow
1952: Mrs. Florence Sparrow found a sparrow in her loaf of bread.
Spokane Chronicle - Feb 29, 1952
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 17, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Food, Odd Names, 1950s
Travel through Europe in Ohio
If you want to visit Venice, Rome, Warsaw, Dublin, Berlin, Amsterdam, or Vienna, there's no reason to leave the United States. In fact, one could visit all these places without going outside the borders of Ohio.This is because Ohio has many cities and towns named after cities in Europe. Far more than any other U.S. state. You can find all the city names listed above in Ohio, plus many more. Think of a European city, and there's probably a town in Ohio with the same name.
Some people go on tours of European cities in Ohio, in lieu of actually going to Europe.
H2G2.com explains why Ohio has all these copycat names:
One reason why some cities were named after geographic areas is because of the canals built in Ohio during the early part of the 19th century. An enormous workforce was required to build the canals, so immigrants were brought in from Europe. Apparently, towns wanted to attract these immigrants to live in their communities to stimulate economic growth. In order to do this many places were often named after the location they had travelled from.
However, Ohioans have put their own unique stamp on many of these copycat names by pronouncing them differently. For instance, Milan, Ohio is pronounced "MY-lun". Some more Ohio pronunciations:
- Lima (LY-ma)
- Versailles (ver-SAILS)
- Moscow (MAHS koh)
- Russia (ROO she)
- Vienna (veye EH nuh)
- Berlin (BUR lynn)
More info: 20 Ohio Towns You're Probably Pronouncing Wrong
Posted By: Alex - Fri Mar 11, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Geography and Maps, Odd Names
The Other JFK
John Francis Kennedy served three terms as Treasurer of Massachusetts, from 1954 to 1960. He was legendary for putting almost no effort (or money) into campaigning. He made no speeches, nor did he advertise. He didn't even have any relevant experience for the job. Before becoming state treasurer he had been a stockroom supervisor at the Gillette Safety Razor Company.By all accounts, the only reason for his political success was the resemblance of his name to John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
John Francis Kennedy probably would have kept running for state treasurer if he could have. But term limits prevented him. He tried running for governor in 1960 (while JFK was campaigning for President), but his winning streak finally ended.
More info: Commonwealth magazine, Our Campaigns
John Francis Kennedy
Miami News - May 22, 1960
Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 20, 2021 -
Comments (4)
Category: Odd Names, Politics, 1950s
Portable Pig Launchers
In the pipe industry (that is, pipes through which things flow, not the pipes one smokes), 'pigs' are defined as inspection gauges that travel through pipes (see wikipedia).This leads to some odd product names, such as Portable Pig Launchers, Bi-Directional Pigs, and Subsea Pig Trackers.
iNPIPE Products offers a full line of portable pig launchers.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 01, 2021 -
Comments (7)
Category: Odd Names, Farming
Mr. Coke-Is-It
1985: Frederick Koch changed his name to "Coke-Is-It", saying that he was sick of people mispronouncing his name either Kotch or Cook. He was then promptly sued by Coca-Cola, since they had trademarked the phrase "Coke is it". Eventually a settlement was reached, allowing Mr. Coke-Is-It to keep using the name, as long as he didn't try to commercialize it.Some digging revealed that Mr. Coke-Is-It was the father of the American skier Bill Koch, who was the first American to win a medal for skiing in international competition.
Argus Leader - Mar 15, 1985
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 11, 2021 -
Comments (0)
Category: Odd Names, 1980s
The Waffle Party
With all this talk of rogue Republicans forming a new party, I hope they choose a name as evocative as that of Canada's The Waffle.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 12, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: Odd Names, Politics, 1960s, 1970s, North America
The Vibro-Helmontholator
A fancy name for a worm catcher.
The Elizabethton Star - Jan 12, 1938
San Francisco Examiner - Dec 16, 1937
Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 10, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Inventions, Odd Names, 1930s
The Coward Shoe
In 1866, cobbler James S. Coward opened a store in New York City. He named it after himself, and he referred to the shoes he sold as "Coward shoes".Despite the odd name, his business did extremely well. In fact, it endured almost to the present. As of 2014, the company had both a twitter and facebook page. But their website now redirects to Old Pueblo Traders whom, I'm guessing, must have acquired them.
The Keyport Weekly - Apr 23, 1892
Boston Globe - Sep 20, 1927
Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 25, 2020 -
Comments (4)
Category: Odd Names, Shoes
Hurff Foods
Hurff... It's not a name, one would think, that would lend itself to selling food. Though it didn't seem to hurt Edgar Hurff's food business, which flourished until 1948. It was then sold to Del Monte, which evidently opted not to keep the Hurff name.
Source: Swedesboro and Woolwich Township
Posted By: Alex - Wed Nov 11, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Food, Odd Names
Email Limited
It's not clear who first used the word 'email' to refer to electronic mail. The entrepreneur Shiva Ayyadurai has taken credit since, in 1978, when he was a 14-year-old high school student in New Jersey, he built an electronic mail software program that he called 'EMAIL'.Actually, Ayyadurai goes further and claims he not only coined the term but also invented the very concept of email. But there's a lot of skepticism about his claims.
However, what is clear is that the term 'email' was in use for decades before 1978, although not to refer to electronic mail. It was the name of a large Australian company that specialized in making meters for gas, water, and electricity. The name was an acronym that stood for 'Electricity Meter & Allied Industries Ltd.'
The tagline of the company was "Email — a totally Australian enterprise." Wikipedia notes: "At one time there would have been few houses in Australia which did not have an Email meter."
Sydney Morning Herald - July 11, 1977
Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 24, 2020 -
Comments (6)
Category: Odd Names
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