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Inappropriate Company or product names


treker_ed

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On 7/17/2021 at 1:09 PM, Six97s said:

 

They've left these premises now, but I assure you this is genuine.

 

hairdressing-KeithRichards-Bedworth.JPG

 

On the subject of "rude" names, there's a builders' merchant called Cox Long.  Their trucks had something like "You've no problems when you're Cox Long" on the doors.  😶

 

This reminds me that there used to be a hairdresser in the Dublin district of Rathmines, called Trevor Francis.  I had a notion that whatever you asked for there, you'd come out with a 1970s bubble perm.

Edited by JosephLalor
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On 7/25/2021 at 10:49 AM, treker_ed said:

There are an abundance of weird and wonderful place names in the UK. It would seem our ancestors had a definite way with words! Place names that translate into literally like "the place in the crook of the river" or "settlement on the brow of the hill" we have a rich and varied history of place names.

 

However, they can be a little, shall we say, eye opening in this day and age - thankfully the British sense of humour (and history) seems to hold sway and keeps them in place for future generations to have a few giggles!

(the following have been borrowed from https://anglotopia.net/ultimate-list-of-funny-british-place-names/)

 

Back Passage, London

Mincing Lane, London

Mudchute, London

Percy Passage, London

Swallow Passage, London

Trump Street, London

Cumming Street, London

Cock Hill, London

Titley Close, London

Cockbush Avenue, London

 

Cock Lane, Tutts Clump, Berkshire, UK

Golden Balls, Oxfordshire

Hooker Road, Norwich

Moisty Lane, Staffordshire

 

I think we have one of the most wonderful and varied histories of place names. From Saxon, Roman, Celtic, Viking, Norman and everything in-between, such a rich and diverse history.

Back in 2007-8 I was on an assignment to UBS in Stamford Connecticut.  The convention for email user names was the first 6 letters of the surname followed by the first 2 letters of the first name.  For example, my username was lalorjo.  The convention was reversed in the case of Sheila Cockburn.

Edited by JosephLalor
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8 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Spirit is another word for ghost in English too.

Indeed, but in South America it resonated differently. Cultural differences. I suppose it is like saying the helicopter was haunted. 

 

  These days companies are very careful about names in various markets. 

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Of course also I forgot. There was was the Swastika laundry in Dublin 

It lasted until the eighties I remember seeing the vans and thinking even then it was a bit odd. But the clothes were ruthlessly cleaned. Sure they pre dated the Nazis but..... 

 

 

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9 hours ago, noelh said:

Indeed, but in South America it resonated differently. Cultural differences. I suppose it is like saying the helicopter was haunted. 

 

  These days companies are very careful about names in various markets. 

 

Yep.

 

They generally make up meaningless names that will not cause offence in any markets, like Mondeo etc.

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Not a company name but we used to have neighbours whose surname was Kuntze.

 

I used to quite enjoy mentioning "the Kuntze's next door" in conversation. 😉

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46 minutes ago, Neil.C said:

Not a company name but we used to have neighbours whose surname was Kuntze.

 

I used to quite enjoy mentioning "the Kuntze's next door" in conversation. 😉

 

Reminds of the skit Dave Chapelle did, I cannot mention it here.

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1 hour ago, Neil.C said:

Not a company name but we used to have neighbours whose surname was Kuntze.

 

I used to quite enjoy mentioning "the Kuntze's next door" in conversation. 😉

There's a great book (my opnion, if course)  which I've read many times since I bought it, called Help I am being held prisoner, by Donald E. Westlake.

 

The hero is named Kunt - with an umlaut.

 

The book follows his adventures in prison. 

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Picked up from an article on the BBC about weird and wonderful British place names

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2wQdX4yYp6G0X6PVQjpYP40/the-best-and-most-eccentric-towns-across-the-uk-according-to-mark-steel?xtor=CS8-1000-[Promo_Box]-[News_Promo]-[News_Promo]-[BBC_DEFAULT~N~~P_MarkSteelsinTown] )

 

For a while everyone in Northampton knew the sign outside the hospital that said “Family planning advice – use rear entrance.”

 

 

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This has got to the ultimate UK road trip.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-58229967

 

WI censor tea towels etc with rude place names:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-34196691

 

Mapmakers celebrate rude place name of the world:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-38078622

 

Edited by treker_ed
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When I moved here 36 years ago there still existed some old-standard Swedish traffic signs out in the boonies.

 

My favourite was the speed-limit one: the one I remember was "50 fart" - "fart" is the Swedish word for "speed"

 

Cheers, Moggy

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  • 4 weeks later...

Did someone ever went through this town....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus,_Missouri#/media/File:Uranus_Missouri_Watertower.jpg

 

once saw a program about the south of the states and they really asked the people how life was in Uranus....strangely everybody was quite positive🤔

Anyway that is probably why pirates have black flags 🏴‍☠️ 

 

cheers, Jan

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On 15/07/2021 at 21:22, Stef N. said:

I'm not sure if this is inappropriate or just a terrible name for a hairdressers in Letchworth. It's not one you can forget so maybe it's a good one?!🤔😀

 

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Don't usually look in the chat section but was a bit bored tonight and saw this. They have a branch in Hertford too, unfortunately first time I noticed it there was a lampost in the way covering the S.

 

In the meantime, here's a company I came across at work:

 

https://www.fart-neon.com/en/about-us-pkv1/company-history/

 

Sadly they seem to have realised the English meaning and added a slash in there, but I like the old pictures of the factory with the company name in big neon lights (there was a picture of it at night but it seems to have disappeared now).

 

 

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Up until a few years ago there used to be a wine merchants in Bromsgrove with the slightly unusual but otherwise perfectly innocuous name of Noble Rot.

 

Thanks to the local wags however, it's sign looked like this:

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Edited by -Ian-
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  • 2 weeks later...

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