Cream cheese originated in 1872 as the result of William Lawrence's failure to duplicate the French cheese Neufchatel. By 1880, he knew his "accidental cheese" was good enough for distribution, so he packaged it in foil wrappers and called it Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
Obviously a major success story, but there's nothing obvious about the birthplace of cream cheese. Many Daily Star readers know that the Pennsylvania city had nothing to do with the iconic dairy product that bears its name, but how many people outside our area would know that Lawrence concocted his Philadelphia Cream Cheese in Orange County, New York, and that he manufactured it in Otsego County -- South Edmeston, to be exact? In fact, asking the question, "Where did Philadelphia Cream Cheese originate?" sounds a bit like asking, "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?"
As the cream cheese story shows, the origins of many company names are not as obvious as they may seem. I assumed the Duane Reade drug store chain was named for its founder, but no. Its first warehouse was between Duane and Reade streets. Conversely, I never thought Taco Bell took its name from a person. Its founder? Glen Bell. I also believed that the name Arby's spells out the pronunciation of R.B., for "roast beef." Close, but it stands for the founding "Raffel Brothers."
Initials and other modifications of a founder's name are common in business names. The founder of Bic pens wisely shortened his name for the U.S. market, because our pronunciation of his French name (Bich) wasn't a boost to business. Some founder-inspired names are less amusing -- the footwear icon Adidas derives its name from German founder Adolf ("Adi") Dassler. He was a Nazi shoemaker who made boots for Hitler's armed forces.
Samsonite luggage is named not for its founder, but for the biblical strongman. That may be an obvious one, but what about Apache software? If you're thinking Southwest natives, don't. According to Apache, in its early days, the result of combining patch files was "a patchy" server.
Sometimes a company name is just sentiment. Steve Jobs loved apples, and the rest is history. The investment research house Morningstar links itself to the sentiment of Thoreau's Walden, which ends with: "The sun is but a morning star." (Ironically, this is the sort of commercial exploitation that would have sent Thoreau right back into the woods.)
Sometimes a company name is just bad spelling. The massive number "googol" was the intended name for the super-capacity search engine that was super-successfully misspelled as "Google."
The insurance giant CIGNA may not be guilty of poor spelling, but no one can credit them with a rational acronym. "CIGNA" is supposedly the combination of CG (Connecticut General) and INA (Insurance [Company] of North America). That's the most license with an acronym I've ever seen.
A perfect acronym, on the other hand, is Coleco (the maker of electronic games and Cabbage Patch Kids). But believe it or not, Coleco stands for "Connecticut Leather Company."
Occasionally, a company name is a true invention. To create a term that stands for nothing, refers to nothing, yet has all the qualities of a pleasing, legitimate name is, in any language, impressive. So hats off to two of the best invented company names of all time: Kodak and Haagen-Dazs.
The only thing cryptic about some company names is their foreign language. The relationship between the constellation Pleiades and the stars on my car would not have escaped me for so long had I known that the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster is "Subaru."
The creators of Legos, another beloved foreign brand, say the Lego name comes from the Danish leg godt ("play well"), which has been challenged by those who point out that in Latin, lego translates to "I put together." It takes a lot of nerve to challenge the Danes on that one, especially since the Lego company made wooden toys long before their little plastic bricks.
Oh, well. What matters is the Danes know the truth about Legos, and we know the truth about cream cheese.
Christine A. Lindberg, and Edmeston resident and senior U.S. lexicographer for Oxford University Press, is the principal content editor of Oxford's American English dictionaries and thesauruses. Opinions expressed by Lindberg in this column are done so independently, and do not necessarily reflect the policies and practices of Oxford University Press. Have a question or comment relating to the English language? Email languagewithlindberg@gmail.com. Selected submissions will be answered here periodically.
Let's Look At The Language
The sometimes-cryptic language of company names
- Let's Look At The Language
-
-
'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
By Christine A. Lindberg A song that "owns" a particular day of the year is rare.
-
Here comes Santa Claus ... where'd he get that snazzy red suit?
Years ago, I had a book of letters written to Santa Claus, and I remember that, among all the messages of "bring me this," "bring me that," and "I'll leave you a plate of cookies," one little boy had written, "Dear Santa, Where did you get your snazzy red suit?" I wouldn't be surprised if the author of that question grew up to be either a reporter or a fashion consultant, but in any event, I hope he got an answer to his question.
-
Where do I plug in these Electric Prunes?
Those of us who make the family feasts of Thanksgiving and Christmas magically appear on the table know there's nothing magic about it.
-
Humorist Will Rogers: One of the crown jewels in American language
Defined as "a humorous writer, performer or artist," a humorist could technically be anyone who makes you laugh, but my concept of a humorist is not nearly so broad
-
Not quite an 'Ode to Pepé Le Pew' after gross, stinky encounter
My previous column ended with the words "sweet dreams," which are nice if you can get 'em, but sometimes the occasion of slumber time is a few degrees short of sweet.
-
What will my dream-doctor say about this orgledream in my head?
I just read a snippet of folklore that tells me "a dream of grasshoppers means that something is confusing you."
-
Names of hurricanes don't match reality
When the storm named Irene barreled up into Edmeston four weeks ago, I didn't think I'd still be looking down upon the vestiges of her destruction from my upstairs windows.
-
Sometimes an unremarkable day is the one we should cherish the most
Ten years ago today, it was a summery Sept. 10 here in Central New York. The temperature hovered in the 80s and there was an occasional drizzle here and there.
-
'Don't miss it, don't even be late' The Great New York State Fair is here
"Our state fair is a great state fair! Don't miss it, don't even be late. It's dollars to doughnuts that our state fair is the best state fair in our state!"
-
Some of it's all Greek to me, but mostly it's just herbaceously aromatic
For the past five years, I've been a container gardener (having given up the backyard to my dogs).
-
Like gods on the heptagram, so are the days of our week
-
'Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?' just not the same
When the Baltimore Orioles' third baseman took the field on May 30, 1982, not even Nostradamus could have foreseen that one of the most celebrated streaks in baseball was beginning at that very moment. The player was Cal Ripken Jr., whose 2,131st consecutive game on Sept. 6, 1995, surpassed Lou Gehrig's "unsurpassable" record.
-
A frabjous Fourth of July to everyone!
If there's one date in history that every American can cite, it's the day that the Continental Congress gave its nod to the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776.
-
I wonder if ancient Romans ever put sanctions on that two-faced Janus
Someone recently asked me if I could explain the meaning of the word "sanction.
-
June is bustin' out all over!
When "Carousel," the second stage musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, the audience left the theater in buoyant spirits.
-
Go ahead and have a rat on a stick, but please don't call it a lollipop
I recent read that this Tuesday is National Escargot Day. I was unable to find any compelling evidence that this is an official national day for any nation in particular, but it does seem that throughout the U.K. and North America, French restaurants have happily adopted the day as a time to celebrate their garlicky little mollusks.
-
Onomatopoeic power of wheatgrass souffle
“The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named” is the New Oxford American Dictionary’s definition of “onomatopoeia” (Ah-Nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh).
-
The language of Benjamin Franklin, in whatever name he used
When Benjamin Franklin died 221 years ago this month, the entire Western world mourned, yet his gravestone reads (in full), “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin 1790.”
-
There's nothing like a good spoonerism to tickle a bunny phone
The English economist Sir Roy Forbes Harrod (1900"1978) once said that, compared to all the scholars he had known at Oxford and Cambridge, the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844"1930) was the most exceptional in "scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom." There is no reason to question Harrod's assessment, but that's not exactly the imprint by which Spooner is best remembered.
-
'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
