# This company has a stupid name **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382 "2005-04-14T23:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/21 "2005-04-16T19:00:20Z")
> [@freakstasy](#): > > Where I live we have TV ads for a money-lending business called Get-A-Yes. Their phone number is displayed at the bottom as 1-800-GETAYES. It took me several viewings to figure out that it wasn’t “get ayes.” > > Both mean the same thing, though, come to think of it. Heh. I actually rather like that. Horribly, horribly geeky, but the college I attend has a (teeny-tiny) graduate program, in which one graduates with a masters in liberal arts. It’s a classics program. They had mugs made earlier this year, which have the school seal on one side, and on the other side say: “MALA Graduate Program” For those who’ve studied classics or pretty much any romance language, you know that ‘mal’ means ‘bad’. Only then did they realize that printing up mugs saying “Bad graduate program” wasn’t the best… (we got free mugs out of it, though) ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/22 "2005-04-17T01:23:11Z")
There’s a guy living down the road from me who brings his tow truck home with him - apparently he’s on call most of the time. He works for a company here called: **Mandic Motors** Yes, you heard right. Man-dick. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/23 "2005-04-17T02:05:09Z")
Derek McGinnity is a (black) newscaster from the Washington DC area. He once mentioned that as a kid he always wondered how nearby “Koon’s Ford” could get away with that name. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/24 "2005-04-17T02:05:31Z")
A few years ago, a company formed by a merger decided on what it thought was a great name. I think they even used it for a while. But apparently no one had looked up “enteron” in a dictionary or else they would have known it’s a word for the intestines (or the entire passage from mouth to anus) and would lead to a lot of giggles for a company in the natural gas business. After this was pointed out, they went with their second-choice name; Enron. Another one. There is a large, respectable law firm called Morrison & Foerster. Their URL is [mofo.com](http://mofo.com) and yes, they’re aware that mofo is an abbreviation for an obscenity. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/25 "2005-04-17T02:07:22Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > TIAA Cref Gesundheit ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/26 "2005-04-17T02:13:56Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > But apparently no one had looked up “enteron” in a dictionary or else they would have known it’s a word for the intestines (or the entire passage from mouth to anus) and would lead to a lot of giggles for a company in the natural gas business. After this was pointed out, they went with their second-choice name; Enron. In Sarasota at least, there really was a natural gas company called People’s Gas. Recently changed names after at least 10 years with that name! ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/27 "2005-04-17T12:31:57Z")
Next time you’re in London, stop in at [this](http://www.ballsbrothers.co.uk/) chain of wine bars for a glass of cabernet sauvignon. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/28 "2005-04-17T13:51:20Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > A few years ago, a company formed by a merger decided on what it thought was a great name. I think they even used it for a while. But apparently no one had looked up “enteron” in a dictionary or else they would have known it’s a word for the intestines (or the entire passage from mouth to anus) and would lead to a lot of giggles for a company in the natural gas business. There’s an Intero real-estate chain here. The name always makes me think of gastroenterology or dysentery for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/29 "2005-04-18T02:08:21Z")
The _Bar-F_ gas station chain in Las Cruces, New Mexico would top my list. Mention the name to a local there, and they don’t really see why it sounds absurd; they picture ranches instead of ralphing when they see the name. “I guess you could look at it that way” was the usual response. The funeral home name is pronounced “ahm-e-shon.” _Tonawanda_ is Iroquois for “swift running waters.” ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/30 "2005-04-18T07:03:09Z")
Last year I worked for a company called Televigation. They make GPS software for certain cell phone models, so the execs had the brilliant idea of mashing together “telephone” with “navigation” to get “awkward mouthful”. I thought this was merely stupid, until my wife pointed out that when most people hear the syllables “te-le-vi” the mind comes up with “-sion” to complete the word. So now I have this image of GPS software that tells you where you left your remote. There’s another company out there called Mindtelligent. Trying to pronounce this name is like having to stop mid-run and scale a wall. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382/31 "2005-04-18T11:07:02Z")
**F & K Trucking**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-company-has-a-stupid-name/299382.md?page=1)