30 Jun
2009
30 Jun
'09
10:23 a.m.
From: Warren Wolfe <lists at databasics.us>
I worked, for a year or two, for a company called
"Application
Development Systems." The owner originally wanted to call it "Applied
Industrial Development Systems," but some of the original employees
convinced him it was a bad idea.
WAY back, my company was going to (or maybe we did) sell some software
for testing CNC machine 'programs' on an Apple ][ and a pen plotter,
it was called CNC Aids.
Also, I am currently involved in starting up a
non-profit organization
to care for feral and abandoned cats in Kona. It's called "Kona Cat
Care." Originally, the other founders were considering making the
name
'cuter' by spelling it "Kona Kat Kare," but I pointed out that the
initials were already taken. Seriously, being only one letter away
from
KFC is bad enough.
KCC = Kent County Council here.
The big problem with mnemonics is their meaning differs with context,
either geographical, temporal or industrial sector. If I search for
the company who made my computer (International Computers and
Tabulators) on the internet, I either get nothing if I search by name,
but if I search for ICT I have to go through every reference and
discard the 99.99% connected with "Information and Communication
Technologies" to find the few references which are relevant. Of course
if I search for 'ICT
(1200,1201,1202,1300,1301,1302,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906
.......) I get much better results but throw up load of addresses of
US streets with those big numbers in them, and possibly miss out any
odd references to peripherals with numbers like 660, 1930 and several
hundred more.
Of course there is also the problem of people describing a 1980s item
as vintage/antique/veteran/ancient when I am looking for something
manufactured in the 1960s. eBay in particular is very bad at this, it
should record approximate manufacture dates for items and let people
search by date range. End of grumpy old man gripe.
Also, a friend of mine started a company that was a
holding company,
owning retail outlets with various names. But the name of the holding
company is "New Directions". I told him he had better be very careful
with his 'diction' when he said the name. He looked puzzled for a
moment, and then turned white as a sheet. Apparently, he'd never made
the connection before. Most amusing.
But, one case was so good it is STILL used as a joke. There was a
Cleveland, Ohio furniture store in the late fifties that was called
"Sofa King." They advertised heavily, but only on rock-and-roll
radio.
There are still some tapes from back then floating around... "Other
stores might offer low prices, but only WE can offer you prices that
are
Sofa King low!" This made the audiences (all kids, for the most part)
shriek. And, it was the fifties, when there was no naughtiness
allowed
on the airwaves. Choice.
Great!
An old story here was that Siemens were going to move their UK base a
few miles down the road to the town of Staines until they realised
what their address was going to be.