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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ok, so Sam Walton founded them ... but can anyone explain the reasoning behind Walmart for the store and Walgeen for the pharmacy-convenience stores? wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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wow, Walgreen's came first didn't it? Maybe back then old Sam had a partner named Green. --- As for copyrights, General and Electric are two common words. Does this mean the company's name is not copyrighted? Or was it created before this law? -- And finally, just to annoy Geoff , here's a great example of a corporate name that does nothing to convey what it does and causes problems when you try to look up its website. BellSouth wireless and Verizon (!) wireless merged to form a company called Cingular (cf. seltic). Go figger.
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old hand
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old hand
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wow, I'm devoting myself to the pursuit of this QANTAS discount question, and I'm coming up zeroes. In a brief scan of their website, it only took a couple of maneuvers to find the acronym decipher. So if it's that abundantly available, they might not be so amenable to the discount concept. I'll continue looking... that would give me the perfect excuse to go on an Outback camel trek. "But I got this terrific discount on an airline ticket!"
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newbie
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newbie
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And finally, just to annoy Geoff , here's a great example of a corporate name that does nothing to convey what it does and causes problems when you try to look up its website. BellSouth wireless and Verizon (!) wireless merged to form a company called Cingular (cf. seltic). Go figger.
I heard that Bell South bought both GTE/Amertech cellular from & CellularOne(cingular). The verizon.com sight says they were GTE & Bell Atlantic.
In this area verizon (gte) & cingular (cell1) are in direct competition. I would be nice to talk with my pals with verizon service for free too.
CJ
CJ
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
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There's an apocryphal story about brand names: The Japanese had just designed and produced another automobile and it was set to go except for a name.Here's one that's NOT apocryphal: Back in the late sixties Toyota produced a car for the US market they called "Sprinter." With the Japanese difficulty with "R" and "L" differentiation, it sounded as though they had a car named for a wood sliver.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm a little confused, but thanks for the who's who, CJ. Anyway, the name Cingular still strikes a singular sour note with me
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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wow, I'm devoting myself to the pursuit of this QANTAS discount question, and I'm coming up zeroes. In a brief scan of their website, it only took a couple of maneuvers to find the acronym decipher. So if it's that abundantly available, they might not be so amenable to the discount concept. I'll continue looking... that would give me the perfect excuse to go on an Outback camel trek. "But I got this terrific discount on an airline ticket!"Okay, today I approached the Qantas information desk and, feeling like a right idiot, asked the question. Blank look, followed by a slight laugh and then eyes moving everywhere while they watered ... I guess the answer is, as I suspected, NO! Actually, for routes that both Qantas and Air New Zealand operate on (which is most of 'em) you can go to either website and get more or less the same prices. If one moves, the other follows, if you follow my moves. However, I'm assured on good authority (moi) that if you are an American and you can point at New Zealand on a map or even point at the correct ocean, they'll let you onto their planes in cattle class if you pay for the ticket ... They don't believe it will significantly increase the number of US citizens flying on their planes!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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Okay, today I approached the Qantas information desk and, asked the question. I guess the answer is, NO! ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Cap K, Your abridged comment re QANTAS discount for anyone who could correctly tell the airline's name is above for those trying to follow along. My guess is that perhaps many, many, many, years ago when QANTAS was trying to break into the international market, it MAY have been true. Lacking a really old, retired, QANTAS Old Timer we may never know. "Ah, sweet mystery of life!" wow
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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everyone is so serious about all these mergers and names-- did you hear that Xerox, to end its corporate woes is planning a merger with Wurlizter?
or that South west bell was planning a merger with Mexico Telecom?
Xerox is planning on making "reproductive organs" and the new telecom company will be called Tacobell!
(lots more where they came from, and more in the annals of the Economist!)
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
I suppose we are all familiar with the trade names which have entered the language as words, such as "xerox" for "photocopier", "kleenex" for "disposable tissue", "coke" for "cola-flavored soda", "kotex" for "sanitary napkin", "vaseline" for "petroleum jelly", et. al. What happens here, of course, is that a manufacturer dreams up a short, snappy name for his product. The product then becomes such a great hit that people use the trade name to denote the product, much to the chagrin of competitors, and after a while, the name goes into dictionaries as a word. What is strange, or stranger, is how manufacturers come up with these names in the first place. Some years ago the Standard Oil co. which produced gasoline under the name "Esso" (short for Standard Oil) decided its image was too old and stuffy, so they decided to change the name and came up with Exxon. There was a lot of criticism at the time because the new name meant absolutely nothing and looked funny with the 2 x's. They kept that for years and it's still around, although I don't see that it ever helped their sales. It seems marketing experts are still at it, dreaming up names which are designed mostly to catch the eye; they don't have to have any meaning whatever.
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