# Brand names that you perceive incorrectly due to personal factors **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652 "2016-08-22T18:36:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/1 "2016-08-22T18:36:07Z")
Have you ever completely misread a brand name, because it somehow resembled something from an unrelated area of your life? I work in foodservice, and one task that needs to be performed regularly is removing the lime scale from various water-using pieces of equipment (dish machine, steamer, steam table, etc.) We usually refer to this process as “de-liming”. The names of the various chemical products used to remove lime scale are usually evocative of the process. So imagine my surprise when I noticed that my local Safeway stocked this stuff in the freezer section. Seriously, it took me quite a bit of staring at the package before my brain sorted out that I wasn’t reading “De-lime-X”, it was actually “Deli-Mex”. Part of the problem was that the actual name was all one word, in all caps: “DELIMEX”. Every encountered something similar? ---
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/2 "2016-08-22T20:15:29Z")
Can’t say that I have had the problem/effect, but it does remind me of the cartoon about the sign painter and “Psycho the rapist”. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/3 "2016-08-23T06:17:50Z")
I keep misreading this thread title as “Band names”. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/4 "2016-08-23T06:50:05Z")
[The Pepsi logo](http://cdn-4.famouslogos.us/images/pepsi-logo-redesign.jpg) always looks like it says “Pelosi.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/5 "2016-08-23T11:47:56Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > I keep misreading this thread title as “Band names”. Does that count? Same here. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/6 "2016-08-23T16:49:50Z")
I saw some off-brand plastic bins at the dollar store. Now, I understand that the off-brand name was supposed to make people think of a well-known national brand known for its plastic storage containers.\* That is NOT the first thing I thought of when I saw the sign for “Rubber Queen.” \*Rubbermaid ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/7 "2016-08-23T18:18:22Z")
I am forever misreading signs and billboards at a brief glance, and what I think I see is usually hilarious. It’s very dull to glance again and find the sign to be perfectly prosaic. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/8 "2016-08-23T20:10:50Z")
After living in Japan for some years, I was reading a book and it said, “For God’s sake…” What about God’s sake? I’m sure he’d pick a reasonably decent rice wine. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/9 "2016-08-23T20:16:00Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > [The Pepsi logo](http://cdn-4.famouslogos.us/images/pepsi-logo-redesign.jpg) always looks like it says “Pelosi.” I dunno…I cocked my head to the right instead of the left, and it read “is ded”. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/10 "2016-08-23T20:22:23Z")
Staying at Drury Inn. Ya mean it’s dreary? Wha? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/11 "2016-08-23T21:05:21Z")
I will never forget being a small child in the '70’s, and wondering why the local highway was named after the Prime Minister of Israel. Begin Highway ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/12 "2016-08-24T03:53:14Z")
There’s a business around her that has (or had) its vehicles painted with the words Commu nicate I still can’t look at them without initially wondering what it says in English and why the trucks are labeled in Romanian. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/13 "2016-08-24T04:12:41Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I am forever misreading signs and billboards at a brief glance, and what I think I see is usually hilarious. It’s very dull to glance again and find the sign to be perfectly prosaic. James Thurber wrote a fun column about going around after having forgotten to wear his glasses, and all the funny things he thought he saw. (This also applies for those of us whose hearing is starting to go.) “He thought he saw a saucer, flying without wings. He looked again and saw it was a pie-plate hung on strings. ‘That will teach me,’ he averred, ‘to look once more at things.’” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/14 "2016-08-24T05:44:13Z")
I was in the grocery store a few days before Halloween and saw a bag of Spunow candy bars. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/15 "2016-08-24T06:14:11Z")
I keep misreading the Vodafone brand (European mobile phone group) as Vodkafone because Vodafone as a word doesn’t make sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/16 "2016-08-24T06:36:53Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I will never forget being a small child in the '70’s, and wondering why the local highway was named after the Prime Minister of Israel. > > Begin Highway The cool thing is, there actually is a highway by that name - the major freeway passing through western Jerusalem. And yes, the signs are just as funny for the exact opposite reason. ---
**Author:** ![Mnemnosyne](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mnemnosyne/32/3347_2.png) [@Mnemnosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnemnosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/17 "2016-08-24T11:03:33Z")
There’s a southern California casino/resort called the Morongo that has ads on TV pretty regularly around here. I can’t read that name without thinking ‘moron, go!’ ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/18 "2016-08-24T14:17:00Z")
There is a town in Tennessee called Wartrace. Are wart races run on a track? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/19 "2016-08-24T14:56:41Z")
I live in farm and ranch country, and a lot of local businesses are named after cattle brands. We used to have a gas station named “Bar-F”. Its sign proudly displayed its name, right above the gasoline prices. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brand-names-that-you-perceive-incorrectly-due-to-personal-factors/763652/20 "2016-08-24T16:21:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The cool thing is, there actually is a highway by that name - the major freeway passing through western Jerusalem. And yes, the signs are just as funny for the exact opposite reason. That is cool! I wasn’t so wrong after all. 😉