# Misleading Business names (that you've encountered in your travels) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974 "2016-04-12T03:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/61 "2016-04-15T19:40:32Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > I’m very much a grown up, but I never see this sign at Beaver Creek, CO that I don’t snicker like a school kid. The local liquor store is called…you guessed it…Beaver Liquor. Yeah, that’s just over the pass from me. We also have a ‘Master Bait and Tackle’ ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/62 "2016-04-15T19:48:57Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Gynecologist? > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I was thinking bikini wax. I actually just checked, and they’re not just a general maintenance company, they specialise in schools… Apparently they really _really_ like being snickered at. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/63 "2016-04-15T19:51:29Z")
When I lived in Salt Lake City I’d often see signs for **Utah Idaho Supply**. I mentally added a business motto: “Where Utah Gets its Idaho” Actually, it’s a stationery store, as the pencil logo suggests. I assume it gets its name from covering both Utah and Idaho. [http://www.uisupply.com/](http://www.uisupply.com/) I was similarly confused by **Ruth’s Chris Steak House** , a business title with too many names in it. It was originally _Chris Steak House_, run by Chris Matulik, and apparently a man who didn’t believe in putting possessives on signs. It was bought by Ruth Fertel, who did, but also believed in leaving the original wording up. According to Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > The sales agreement with Matulich prevented her from using the original name at any other address, so she named the new restaurant Ruth’s Chris Steak House in order to keep some continuity with the previous location.[16] She admitted later to Fortune Magazine that “I’ve always hated the name, but we’ve always managed to work around it.”[ > **[Ruth's Chris Steak House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth%27s_Chris_Steak_House)** > > Ruth's Chris Steak House is a chain of over 100 steakhouses across the United States, Canada and Mexico. On May 22, 2008, the company underwent rebranding and became part of Ruth's Hospitality Group after its acquisition of Mitchell's Fish Market. The group's headquarters are in Winter Park, Florida. > Chris' Steak House was founded on February 27, 1927 by New Orleans entrepreneur Chris Matulich. It was located at 1100 North Broad Street near the Fair Grounds Race Course, seated 60 people, and h... ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/64 "2016-04-15T20:30:58Z")
There used to be a bar in the town I grew up in called The Office. I guess so that men could call home and tell their wives that they were still at The Office. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/65 "2016-04-15T20:35:20Z")
There’s always French Lick, IN and Back Lick Road just outside of WDC. Here in Portland we have Couch (pronounced ‘cooch’) Street. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/66 "2016-04-15T22:20:51Z")
There can be a cultural difference between what might be misleading. The Japanese company Yamaha makes both pianos and motorcycles. In America, it is hard to imagine a pianist playing a concerto at Carnegie Hall on a Harley Davidson grand, or a biker showing up in Deadwood on a Steinway chopper. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/67 "2016-04-16T01:49:58Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > At first I thought you were joking. There are dozens if not hundreds of Cumberland Farms gas stations in the northeast, have been for decades, and I assumed it was a national chain. But you’re right, it doesn’t _sound_ like a gas station! Cumberland Farms did start as a dairy farm in the late 30s. The opened convenience stores in the 60s in New England selling milk among other things. They have some connection with Gulf Oil which is how I imagine they got into gas stations. But as so many gas stations now have convenience stores attached, that’s only fair, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/68 "2016-04-16T22:02:54Z")
I am always a bit astonished when I see the Payless Shoes sign. One that annoys me is businesses that advertise geothermal heating, when all they are selling is heat pumps in the ground. Then there is a local company called (in French) Erection Rapide. (They actually build scaffolds.) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/69 "2016-04-16T22:18:50Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > There’s always French Lick, IN and Back Lick Road just outside of WDC. Here in Portland we have Couch (pronounced ‘cooch’) Street. That’s nothing. About 2 1/2 hours south of French Lick is a tiny town call Gnaw Bone, Indiana. Even more amusing to me is the fact that Indianapolis, Indiana, isn’t the only Indianapolis in the US. There’s one in Iowa, and one in Oklahoma. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/70 "2016-04-26T06:54:25Z")
Triple Napalm Bomb. It was a hair salon. L.S.D. A stage lighting company (it stood for Lighting System Department) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/71 "2016-04-26T12:56:08Z")
In PA there’s a Messiah College. I’ve seen Engineering Schools, Medical Schools and such. But is there that much demand for Messiahs? OTOH, paying off your student loan is just a wave of the hand. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/72 "2016-04-26T14:24:54Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > In PA there’s a Messiah College. I’ve seen Engineering Schools, Medical Schools and such. But is there that much demand for Messiahs? In the same vein, Resurrection Hospital. Modern medicine is not quite that miraculous. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/73 "2016-04-26T15:25:50Z")
There’s a place near me called the Lunch Box. They do bikini waxes. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/74 "2016-04-26T16:07:07Z")
[quote=“RivkahChaya, post:69, topic:751974”] That’s nothing. About 2 1/2 hours south of French Lick is a tiny town call Gnaw Bone, Indiana.QUOTE] I’m stupidly happy that someone else in this great big wide world has heard of little old Gnaw Bone, Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/75 "2016-04-26T18:49:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Near us is a place called “Cumberland Farms”. Sounds bucolic & might be a dairy or a place to buy fresh-picked local veggies, right? Nope. For those of you who grew up around this store, he’s talking about Cumblin Fahms. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/76 "2016-04-26T19:21:19Z")
Here in SLC there is a business called Low Book Sales. What do they sell? Cars, of course. Truth be told, what they actually sell is Auto Loans. The cars are just the enticement to get one of their loans. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/77 "2016-04-26T19:27:26Z")
In the town where I went to college was the **Heritage Bookstore**. It was across the street from the history museum. They did not sell books. They sold items of a more ‘adult’ nature. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/78 "2016-04-26T19:44:10Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > There used to be a bar in the town I grew up in called The Office. I guess so that men could call home and tell their wives that they were still at The Office. In the town where I went to college we had **The Library** and **The Zoo** bars. > [@jtur88](#): > > or a biker showing up in Deadwood on a Steinway chopper. Although Deadwood isn’t that far away, the rally is actually in Sturgis. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/79 "2016-04-26T19:49:44Z")
From reading Dave Barry’s columns, I know that **The French Embassy** in Arcola, Illinois is not any kind of diplomatic mission. It’s a combination Gourmet Restaurant and Bowling Alley. Really > **[CHEF DE LANES](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-06-05-9002150800-story.html)** Actually, it seems to have gone to that Great Diplomatic Mission in the Sky – I don’t see a current listing for it. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974/80 "2016-04-26T19:59:48Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > There is, of course, the old standby from [The Simpsons](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wnRmWwfTHqk/ULYcqh80xgI/AAAAAAAAAMc/RGzplDzo9dU/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-11-28+at+22.18.33.png) Not to mention another from the Simpsons, “Sneeds Feed & Seed (Formerly Chuck’s).” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-business-names-that-youve-encountered-in-your-travels/751974.md?page=5)