Why On Earth Is It Called That???

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Give your favourite examples of things which make you think - why on earth is it called that???

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:46 (twenty-two years ago)

earth. i mean, really. what a crap name.

― g-kit (g-kit), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:48 (twenty-two years ago)

mine has got to be Bluetooth. What were they thinking of? Nothing has a blue tooth! It's not even as if there is a legion of blue foods that would make yr teeth blue, so IT techie inventor Tefal man could possibly have been looking across the office at a colleague eating his or her lunch and think "Oh yes! Good name". Well I suppose if they were drinking the Blue Slush Puppy. Can you still get Slush Puppy? If not is it credible that someone could think back to a time in the dim and distant past when they saw someone's cerulean dentition and think "That's a good name for this new gizmo I've just invented!"?

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Dreamcast

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Apple Paltrow

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The Stands

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

X-Box. It's STILL A BOX you moron!

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 08:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Bluetooth is named after a the Viking King Harald who unified Norway and Denmark.

http://www.cellular.co.za/technologies/bluetooth/bluetooth_king_harald.htm

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:10 (twenty-two years ago)

well that worked, didn't it?

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:11 (twenty-two years ago)

somehow i knew Bluetooth was a Nordic thing

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:12 (twenty-two years ago)

WHAT HAVE THESE CRAZEE SCANDANAVIANS BEEN EATING????

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:13 (twenty-two years ago)

about 10 years ago businesses got wild greco-roman invented names like congisgnia and whatever british steel became. in that same time bands had airy meaningless names like blur, pulp, oasis. so business catches up and brands as orange, oyster, egg, at the same time bands start getting descriptive names again, that refer to a group of folks. the strokes, scissor sisters, and so on.

― matthew james (matthew james), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:14 (twenty-two years ago)

somehow I don't think accenture will be changing their name to The Blokes anytime soon though.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, not after they paid a fortune for their name (and the little greater than sign). Though they should have seen this coming and changed their name to Brett Andersen!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

or Brett Michaels!

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

well that worked, didn't it?

Just like Bluetooth, then.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"Table" is the one that always gets me. Seriously.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 17 June 2004 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Spoon always leaves me befuddled.

I prefer the German for table - tisch - it's delicious.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Tho oddly enough the German for table when it's a table of data is not Tisch but Tafel.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

table = tablet = flat surface and point of focus?

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Stevem is Mr Etymology.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

> somehow i knew Bluetooth was a Nordic thing

it always amuses me that (some of) our days of the week are named after norse gods. why?

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

don't know....but what's even odder is that in Germanic languages the days of the week are named after Norse gods and in Romantic languages the days are named after their Roman equivalents. There are a few languages that buck the trend of course - I think Greek and Portuguese have numbered days.

which world capital is named after a day of the week? (see if anyone knows).

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:50 (twenty-two years ago)

London? (lundi)

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:55 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Watershed"

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 17 June 2004 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)

> in Germanic languages...

except in Germany itself where Wednesday is boringly 'mid-week'.

http://www.domesticat.net/misc/monthsdays.php

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 17 June 2004 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

there's good stuff on gods and days of the week in a book called (cleverly) The Calendar. There was IIRC even an explanation of how the order of the days is related to the order of the planets.

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Thursday, 17 June 2004 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Grape Nuts

― Laura E (laurae55), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Piles.

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 17 June 2004 12:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I see what you did there.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 17 June 2004 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The Pantechnicon. Named after a Transformer, presumably?

― Matt Thurgood (Matt T), Thursday, 17 June 2004 13:35 (twenty-two years ago)

was I right? what's the answer Mark H?

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 17 June 2004 13:58 (twenty-two years ago)

no it's Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan. It means Monday in Tajik, coz Monday was market day, so it was "the place you go on Monday".

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 17 June 2004 14:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I was gonna guess that next.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 17 June 2004 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

in that same time bands had airy meaningless names like blur, pulp, oasis

as opposed to "velvet underground" "a-ha" "wham!"

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 17 June 2004 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

My grandfather actually had a copy of "The Velvet Underground", a sensational pulp study of S/M and whatnot from the early '60s. He kept it with his 'dirty' books like Henry Miller and the Joy of Sex. Strangely enough, he kept "None Dare Call it Treason" up on that shelf. It was only natural then that I should end up such a warped child.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 17 June 2004 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Milk Duds.

― Huey (Huey), Thursday, 17 June 2004 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

WHAT's the DEEEAL with Kool Aid? what's it aiding?

And WHAT'S UP with dashboards? They're not DASHING anywhere.

and why do we BURN CDs? I'm not setting them on FIRE or anything.

http://www.wells.edu/images/calien1a.gif

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 17 June 2004 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Gear! made me laugh.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 17 June 2004 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't get why Dora the Explorer isn't called Dora tha Explora

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

"What's the DEEEAL with rappers? Ice Cube? Vanilla Ice? Ice-T? What's next, Iced Mocha?"

http://www.wells.edu/images/calien1a.gif

― Gear! (Gear!), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

intel centrino = terrible name

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Nothing has a blue tooth!

a band I was in in high school had a punk rock song that went "All she wants is new tooth!/ One that isn't BLUE!" because the bassplayer's girlfriend got a replacement front tooth and it was a bit bluish.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 17 June 2004 17:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"What's the DEEEAL with rappers? Ice Cube? Vanilla Ice? Ice-T? What's next, Iced Mocha?"

Reminds me of that scene in Fear of a Black Hat where Ice Cold points out all of the rappers trying to bite his style: Ice Tray, Ice Coffee, Ice Water, Ice Berg, Ice Cup, Ice Box...

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 17 June 2004 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Grapefruit

― winterland, Friday, 18 June 2004 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I had a grapefuit and it didn't have any grapes in it, then I had a coconut and it didn't have any cocoa in it. Then I had a kumquat.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 18 June 2004 06:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Grapefruit is named for its resemblance to grapeshot, the small cannonballs, because it was of a similar size and shape. Grapeshot was named after edible grapes, because it was loaded in clusters and was comparatively small, compared to ordinary-sized cannonballs.

― Aimless (Aimless), Friday, 18 June 2004 14:53 (twenty-two years ago)

grapefruit reminds me of: eggplant

― sgs (sgs), Friday, 18 June 2004 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

How did the lemon shark get its name? Who in their right mind looked at a shark and said, "I shall call it 'lemon'"??

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

"Watermelon? I don't get it! It's not like you OPEN IT UP and WATER pours out? I mean come on!"

http://www.wells.edu/images/calien1a.gif

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 18 June 2004 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

it always amuses me that (some of) our days of the week are named after norse gods. why?

My guess is the English words for the days are as they are since the vikings came to England killing, stealing and raping. (Or since they were merchants. Have the history any way you choose.) Some stayed and made a slight impact.

― TBA (TBA), Friday, 18 June 2004 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Gear!, who is that? Huck?

― Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Friday, 18 June 2004 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

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