30 Jun
2009
30 Jun
'09
6:35 a.m.
There's a word for that, where you deliberately
mis-spell something
for effect, like "kat kare" or "cheez". Years ago my mum (a retired
English teacher) told me what it was, but I can't remember and
neither can she.
Cacography?
Lee.
30 Jun
30 Jun
7:02 a.m.
New subject: OT: deliberate mis-spelling
Deliberate mis-spellings are very common to distinguish registered trademarks.
Compaq(r) is a solid trademark where Compact Computer would not pass muster with the USTPO
as being
discriptive.
The common pain pill Aleve got its name when it's origional relief based name was
rejected as being
generic.
Aleve was not a real word in use and was easily registered even though phoneticly very
close.
Deliberate mis-spellings are often used to try to get around trademark restrictions, only
to fail the likeliness
of confusion test and end up dealing with angry lawyers.
later...
The other Bob
7:11 a.m.
New subject: OT: deliberate mis-spelling
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 3:02 PM, Bob Bradlee <caveguy at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Deliberate mis-spellings are very common to
distinguish registered
trademarks.
Compaq(r) is a solid trademark where Compact Computer would not pass muster
with the USTPO as being
discriptive.
The common pain pill Aleve got its name when it's origional relief based
name was rejected as being
generic.
Aleve was not a real word in use and was easily registered even though
phoneticly very close.
Deliberate mis-spellings are often used to try to get around trademark
restrictions, only to fail the likeliness
of confusion test and end up dealing with angry lawyers.
later...
The other Bob
COMPAQ originally stood for 'COMPAtability with Quality' because of their
IBM-copyright busting compatible BIOS. That's the official line anyhoo :)
--
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
7:34 a.m.
New subject: OT: deliberate mis-spelling
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:11:38 +0100, Adrian Graham wrote:
COMPAQ originally stood for 'COMPAtability with Quality' because of their
IBM-copyright busting compatible BIOS. That's the official line anyhoo :)
I have no reason to dispute any official story/reason ....
Does not change the fact that the spelling Compaq was not in common use until they
registered it as a
trademark and now it has attained exclusive use in a wide range of products and services.
While it is possiable to get a common name registered as a trademark, it requires the
common word be
used in an uncommon way and a good lawyer :-)
later
Bob
7:42 a.m.
New subject: OT: deliberate mis-spelling
On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 3:34 PM, Bob Bradlee <caveguy at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:11:38 +0100, Adrian Graham
wrote:
COMPAQ originally stood for 'COMPAtability with Quality' because of their
IBM-copyright busting compatible BIOS. That's the official line anyhoo :)
I have no reason to dispute any official story/reason ....
Does not change the fact that the spelling Compaq was not in common use
until they registered it as a
trademark and now it has attained exclusive use in a wide range of products
and services.
While it is possiable to get a common name registered as a trademark, it
requires the common word be
used in an uncommon way and a good lawyer :-)
later
Bob
'windows', anyone?
--
--
adrian/witchy
Owner of Binary Dinosaurs, the UK's biggest home computer collection?
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk
1 Jul
1 Jul
6:36 p.m.
New subject: OT: deliberate mis-spelling
Adrian Graham wrote:
COMPAQ originally stood for 'COMPAtability with
Quality' because of their
IBM-copyright busting compatible BIOS. That's the official line anyhoo :)
I don't remember that at all. As the original Compaq was a luggable, I
was almost certain it stood for "compact".
30 Jun
30 Jun
12:11 p.m.
New subject: OT: deliberate mis-spelling
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009, Bob Bradlee wrote:
Deliberate mis-spellings are often used to try to get
around trademark
restrictions, only to fail the likeliness of confusion test and end up
dealing with angry lawyers.
. . . also to get around truth in advertising laws.
"Froot Loops" don't have to be made of fruit.
"Cheez" doesn't have to be made of cheese
A related topic is Mondegreens - the substitution of homonyms.
8:59 a.m.
New subject: deliberate mis-spelling,was Re: chiclassiccomp.org was Re: Mysterious website
How 'bout Malapropism ??
/ Steven
There's a
word for that, where you deliberately mis-spell something
for effect, like "kat kare" or "cheez". Years ago my mum (a retired
English teacher) told me what it was, but I can't remember and
neither can she.
Cacography?
Lee. 
9:54 a.m.
New subject: deliberate mis-spelling, was Re: chiclassiccomp.org was Re: Mysterious website
On 30 Jun 2009 at 8:59, Scanning wrote:
How 'bout Malapropism ??
/ Steven
> > There's a word for that, where you deliberately mis-spell
> > something
> > for effect, like "kat kare" or "cheez". Years ago my mum
(a
> > retired English teacher) told me what it was, but I can't
> > remember and neither can she.
>
> Cacography?
Not a malapropism (unintentional substitution of a similar-sounding,
but different in meaning word). A recent example that comes to mine
is the BBC Radio 4 series "Ladies of Letters" with Prunella Scales
and Patricia Routledge that's liberally sprinkled with them.
Cacography seems to say "intentional bad writing/spelling", with the
emphasis on "kakos"=bad. I'm not certain that the word captures the
spriit of a variant spelling. Cacography seems to carry the sense of
the opposite of calligraphy.
Or so it seems to me.
FWIW,
Chuck
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