# Store and other business names that bug you **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 17, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001 "2020-04-17T19:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/161 "2020-04-23T07:22:36Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > And on that note… > > There once was a store in Toronto named “The BiWay”. I had no idea they were a discount store. Of course seeing it for the first time back in the 90’s made me smirk. > Apparently it was a popular store and is returning to that city this year. OMG! Haven’t thought of it in years! It was a discount store, I think. I don’t think it was a catalogue store, like Consumer’s Distributing, though. (And of course it was years before I became aware of bisexuality as a thing that really existed instead of being speculation in science-fiction books.) ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/162 "2020-04-23T08:59:27Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > That’s because the fourth letter isn’t actually a “z”; originally, it was the Anglo-Saxon/Scots letter _yogh_ (ȝ), which represented /j/, the modern y-sound. In Middle English orthography, it was often confused with a tailed variant of “z”, so Scottish printers, not having a slug for ȝ, substituted “z”. This is why Culzean Castle is pronounced “Cull-ane”, and the family names Dalziel and Gilzean “Dey-ill” and “Gil-ane”, respectively. It’s also why _Mackinney_ and _Mawhinney_ are variants of the name “Mackenzie”, and the 17th century advocate George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh was nicknamed “Bluidy Mackinngie”. > > Finally, a chance to show off my knowledge of Scottish onomastics! I’ve been waiting so long… My brain hurts ! The ways of those folk just north of my country-as-opposed-to-nation, with spelling / pronunciation, have always had that effect on me. Scots-speak seems to me – from a “Saxon” point of view – weird with the letter Q, also. There’s a place on the north side of the Firth of Forth, spelt “Kilconquhar” – pronounced, I believe, something like “Kinnew-kher”. ??? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/163 "2020-04-23T10:36:34Z")
> [@Little\_Brother\_1](#): > > This is on-topic, but there’s also a sub-genre of small business names that are just too cute, clever, labored, etc. for their own good. > > There was a local pizza/sandwich shop named “Two Guys and a Grill”. As soon as I saw the sign I knew it wouldn’t last. Well, the NYC lesbian bar Henrietta Hudson seems to have hung on, billing itself as [“Bar and Girl”](https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/HenriettaHudson_Square-700x700.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/164 "2020-04-23T14:27:36Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > [Dick’s Sporting Goods](https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/)… > . There used to be a Willy’s Ski Shop not to far from here. I hadn’t heard of them, but my husband visited the place some years back to get some item or another. He mentioned it to me afterward, and I asked “Is it by any chance next door to a Dick’s?”. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/165 "2020-04-23T17:19:49Z")
In my Boston neighborhood, a shop selling fashion tchotchkes for women opened with the name “Bobbles and Lace.” My first reaction was that it was some two-bit thing where a non-native speaker wanted to say “baubles and lace,” but no, they have a website and several brick-and-mortar locations. I’m still thinking they meant to say “baubles” but were too ignorant and/or lazy to discover their mistake in time. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/166 "2020-04-23T22:10:33Z")
There’s a local kid’s clothing place called “Plato’s Closet”. It sounds more like the name for a gay bar. And when I was in high school, there was a bar and grill down the street from me named The Five Sister’s Grill. Everyone at school called it the Ten Titties. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/167 "2020-04-23T22:26:10Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It is standard to say “the” University of Etc, but it’s not part of the name. If it’s Etc University, “the” is rarely used, just when it is part of the name. I used to work for **[The University of Alabama in Huntsville](https://www.uah.edu/)**, and once got a memo reminding us that that’s the full name of the university - that “The” is part of the name, and be careful to use “in” (rather than “at” or anything else). Note the logo includes the “THE”. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/168 "2020-04-23T22:46:07Z")
One I only saw in passing, decades ago, that I kinda liked: a maternity-wear shop called “Mother Frockers.” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/169 "2020-04-23T23:43:55Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > In my Boston neighborhood, a shop selling fashion tchotchkes for women opened with the name “Bobbles and Lace.” My first reaction was that it was some two-bit thing where a non-native speaker wanted to say “baubles and lace,” but no, they have a website and several brick-and-mortar locations. I’m still thinking they meant to say “baubles” but were too ignorant and/or lazy to discover their mistake in time. One definition of bobble: a small ball of fabric especially one in a series used on an edging. Sounds like they knew what they were doing. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/170 "2020-04-24T03:16:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > There’s a local kid’s clothing place called “Plato’s Closet”. It sounds more like the name for a gay bar. It’s actually a nationwide resale chain that’s aimed at teenagers and younger adults. There’s a store where I live. [https://www.platoscloset.com/](https://www.platoscloset.com/) Speaking of gay bars, there is indeed a Gay Bar in the ghost town of Gay, Michigan. It was a mining village named after a founding family whose surname was Gay. [https://thegaybar.com/](https://thegaybar.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/171 "2020-04-24T05:12:33Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > There’s a local kid’s clothing place called “Plato’s Closet”. It sounds more like the name for a gay bar. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > It’s actually a nationwide resale chain that’s aimed at teenagers and younger adults. There’s a store where I live. Honolulu has one too. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Speaking of gay bars, there is indeed a Gay Bar in the ghost town of Gay, Michigan. It was a mining village named after a founding family whose surname was Gay. > > [https://thegaybar.com/](https://thegaybar.com/) Talk about convenient. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/172 "2020-04-24T05:19:32Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Porn has lots of terrible ones too: > > Dogfart - yes there is an adult film production company that calls itself Dogfart however it should be noted that their scenes do not feature dogs and/or farting. I concluded they named it that because it’s the most nastiest thing in the whole widest world. I’ve got dogs. I take them all out in the Jeep. I know of what I speak. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/173 "2020-04-24T05:40:00Z")
> [@bump](#): > > There’s a place not far from my house called “Sushi de Handroll”. > > The name just irritates me every time I see the sign- WTF- 3 languages to come up with an super lame name for a Japanese restaurant? There’s a sushi place near me called Cafe de Bangkok. Sounds like they are confused about which country sushi comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/174 "2020-04-24T05:47:27Z")
Our for a walk today, I passed a barber shop called “Millionhairs”. :: twitch :: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/175 "2020-04-24T12:40:31Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Really any state university that has the pretense to stick “The” in front of their name. “The” Ohio State University. “The” University of Texas, “The” Pennsylvania State University, et al… > > It’s a lame pretentious attempt to portray themselves as pre-eminent in their own states, as if there are no other universities in the state worth mentioning. Not only that, but Ohio State wasn’t even the FIRST state university in Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/176 "2020-04-24T12:58:23Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > My brain hurts ! The ways of those folk just north of my country-as-opposed-to-nation, with spelling / pronunciation, have always had that effect on me. Scots-speak seems to me – from a “Saxon” point of view – weird with the letter Q, also. There’s a place on the north side of the Firth of Forth, spelt “Kilconquhar” – pronounced, I believe, something like “Kinnew-kher”. ??? I beg your pardon, Mr. St. John (pronounced _Sin-jn_) Wriothesley (pronounced _Rye-uths-lee_), from Marylebone Road (pronounced _May-bn_), you were saying something about illogical Scottish pronunciations? Or am I misremembering and you are from Alnwik, (_Al-ik_), or is it Cholmondeley (_Chum-lee_)? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/177 "2020-04-24T14:28:21Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I beg your pardon, Mr. St. John (pronounced _Sin-jn_) Wriothesley (pronounced _Rye-uths-lee_), from Marylebone Road (pronounced _May-bn_), you were saying something about illogical Scottish pronunciations? Or am I misremembering and you are from Alnwik, (_Al-ik_), or is it Cholmondeley (_Chum-lee_)? :dubious: Shall we say – in the matter of spelling vis-a-vis pronunciation, English and Scots both appear to abound in illogicalities, but in different ways and per different (non)-systems! Welsh, however: although to someone unfamiliar with it, it initially _looks_ like alphabet soup – in fact Welsh spelling / pronunciation is highly orderly and regular: once you’ve learnt the rules, in 99% of cases you can read a word off and pronounce it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/178 "2020-04-25T04:18:23Z")
Buy Buy Baby. Ugh. Around here, we have a chain that used to be called Sleep Train, and they renamed it to “Mattress Firm.” I say again: Ugh. Somebody mentioned Dress Barn upthread, but that’s another one I came in here to say. Also it’s plus-sized sister, Dress Barn Woman. Because every woman wants to feel like she got her fashion from a barn. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/179 "2020-04-26T03:22:48Z")
There’s a local massage place called “Knead It Or Knot” which I think is kind of cute. However, I don’t know why anyone would go to a hair salon called Shear Agony. Also as a diabetic, I do not go a restaurant called Food Koma as I don’t know if they’re being literal about that or not. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001/180 "2020-04-26T04:27:20Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > There’s a local massage place called “Knead It Or Knot” which I think is kind of cute… It’s cute until you see the hundredth bad massage pun. I have a friend who’s a massage therapist and has worked at **You Need Me To Knead You** , _†ouch of bliss,_ and **Rub You The Right Way**. You’d think that’d be overload, but then she started her own place… _" I Knead You! 🙂 "_ [sigh…] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/store-and-other-business-names-that-bug-you/852001.md?page=10)