SO THAT’S WHY WE CALL THAT THAT
In 1997, two smarty-pants, needing a name for their new data-index website, came up with “googol,” which is the number one followed by a hundred zeroes. Perfect! But as they typed Googol into a domain-name search engine, they committed a critical typo. And the mistake stuck. Don’t believe us? Google it. Meanwhile, here are the stories behind other brand names.
Triscuit ▶ ELECTRICITY BISCUITS
Triscuit is short for “electricity biscuit,” because the first ones were proudly produced with hydroelectric power.
Adidas ▶ ADI DASSLER
Adidas is an abbreviation of “Adi Dassler,” one of two feuding Dassler brothers from Germany who founded rival shoe empires after World War II (Adi’s brother Rudi founded Puma).
Häagen-dazs ▶ ?????
Häagen-dazs is short for … absolutely nothing. Reuben Mattus, who moved to Brooklyn from Poland, created the ice cream company in 1959. A Jew, he wanted to give his company a Danish-sounding name in tribute to Denmark’s reputation for saving Jews during World War II and settled on this nonsense phrase.
Nike ▶ VICTORY
Nike was named for the Greek goddess of victory. Allegedly, the shoe company’s famous “swoosh” logo represents the fleet-footed goddess’s wings.
Lego ▶ PLAY WELL
Lego is a contraction of the Danish phrase godt, meaning leg “play well.”
Language is full of twists and turns—or, as our silver-tongued ancestors might say, it’s full of crinkum-crankum. Words that were once common become obsolete, or downright ridiculous, just a few generations later. Take these 19th-century slang words that we desperately need to bring back. Can you figure out what they mean in the story below?
The day after my bachelor party, I woke up with the worst katzenjammer of my life. My head felt full of slumgullion, and collywobbles battered my gut. I looked around the room, utterly bumfuzzled. The whole apartment was cattywampus, with gubbins of chips and pizza crusts strewn across the floor. Light shone slantindicular through the window. What time was it, anyway? When I looked at the wall clock, it was moving widdershins! I closed my eyes to shut out all the flummadiddle—then I realized: I don’t own a wall clock! Had I been hornswoggled, or did I somehow stumble into the wrong house??? I rose shakily to my feet and absquatulated as fast as I could. I’ve never felt so crapulous in my life!
KEY:
▶ katzenjammer: a hangover
▶ slumgullion: meat stew
▶ collywobbles: abdominal pains
▶ bumfuzzled: confused
▶ cattywampus: askew
▶ gubbins: scraps
▶ slantindicular: oblique; a portmanteau of “slanted” and “perpendicular.”
▶ widdershins: counterclockwise
▶ flummadiddle: something nonsensical or worthless
▶ hornswoggle: to trick or deceive
▶ absquatulate: depart suddenly
▶ crapulous: sick from excessive drinking