Before he started writing plays, William Shakespeare had a part-time job writing COBOL programs for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
The Pinkerton Detective Agency was originally called the Redderton Detective Agency, but the name was left out in the sun for too long, and faded.
In a further name mishap for the company, Jonah Reddington, the founder, filed the necessary documents to start the company online, and the autocorrect on his web browser changed “Reddington” to “Redderton.” He liked it better that way, so he went with it.
The Cincinnati Reds were originally called the Cincinnati Comminist Bastids. But the local Communist Party back in the day urged the organization to change it to Cincinnati Communist Bastards, the correct spelling, but the fans didn’t like the spelling and demanded it be changed it to Redlegs. The local Communist Party demanded the dropping of ‘legs.’ That was the one that was accepted.
Actor Gordon Jump, who played station manager Arthur Carlson on the television comedy *WKRP in Cincinnati," died tragically in 1994, when he was brutally attacked by a flock of turkeys who had no sense of humor whatsoever.
WKRP’s creator, Hugh Wilson, was a philosophy major in college before entering show business. He chose the callsign for his fictional radio as a tribute to his favorite philosopher, Sir Karl Raimund Popper.
Hugh Wilson was involved in an abortive attempt to create the National Philosophy League in the early to mid-eighties. The idea was, by way of glamorizing philosophy, to encourage people to pursue higher education and develop greater critical thinking skills. The league failed on the first day of competition when the only fans to attend any of the matches were seven people who showed up for the Houston Epistemologists’ matchup with the Baltimore Ethicists. The seven ersatz fans were lured into the venue only because an overzealous marketing person had advertised ten-cent beer for the event even though nothing alcoholic was actually available. The would-be beer drinkers became rowdy, disrupted the match, and trashed the concession stands.
Recently, Vince McMahon began negotiations to establish an American Philosophy League, to become a part of WWE. It is intended to be a hedge against the decline in the popularity of professional wrestling. Of course, with his usual luck, McMahon is facing tradename infringement lawsuits from the American Philosophical Lumberjack League of Blawnox, PA.
Vince McMahon’s professional wrestling league, WWE, formerly went by the initials WWF (World Wrestling Federation) – a set of initials which is also used by the World Wildlife Fund. McMahon was forced to change his league’s name after losing a cage match against a panda.
Pandas were considered to be bears for a long time but recently were re-classified as cousins of the raccoon. Turns out they’re more closely related to the Chevrolet Impala (Detroitus Mechina).
The Chevrolet Impala was so named because at the time it was the only American production car that was actually faster than an impala. Unfortunately, it was discovered later that in the test drives, they had included a JATO rocket with the Impala. When they tried to include a JATO rocket with the impala, it did not turn out well.
Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Count Dracula, was supposedly known as Vlad the Impaler for his sadistic means of executing his enemies. Actually, he was originally called Vlad the Impala, although the reason for this is lost to history.
Vlad the Impala was eventually done in by the notorious Van Helsinki, who wielded a Bohemian Earspoon coated with Finlandian garlic.
Bohemian Earspoons are coming back into fashion! Oh, wait, no, too late…
Bohemian Eyeglasses, on the other hand, allow you to see a little silhouette-o of a man.
Will you do the Fandango?
Queen’s hit song “Bohemian Rhapsody” was originally titled “Bro-hemian Rhapsody,” and the first draft of the lyrics would have been an early expression of what would later become known as “bro culture.” Record company executives, already skittish about some of the things the band intended to do on the album, squashed that like a bug.
Bugs don’t squash. They squish.
The Volkswagen Bug was so named because of the numerous chronic malfunctions that the compact car featured.
Ever eat a Volkswagen? Many parts are edible.
The media would like you to think there is a Volkswagen Jolts but the Jolts is actually a nine volt battery that uses the nipple as part of the circuit. Talk about Jolts!