# When the usual name is a no-go **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056 "2024-09-10T12:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/21 "2024-09-10T15:54:38Z")
During Covid, the WHO skipped over the Greek letter “Xi” for a new Covid variant because it would have been called the Xi virus and then had unintentional political blowback. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/22 "2024-09-10T15:56:16Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > During Covid, the WHO skipped over the Greek letter “Xi” [They also skipped over Nu](https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/who-skipped-letters-of-greek-alphabet-while-naming-covid-19-variant-omicron-idUSL1N2SI07K/). ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/23 "2024-09-10T15:58:58Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > _Rapeseed oil has entered the chat_ > Hi, I’m Canola, from Canada! In the UK, we don’t have Canola. The processed stuff just gets sold as ‘vegetable oil’, but the high-end cold pressed stuff is always sold as ‘Rapeseed Oil’. Everyone’s quite happy to talk about ‘fields of rape’ too, when the crop’s in season. Quite sets off my hayfever. OB ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/24 "2024-09-10T16:00:32Z")
Once upon a time a computer chip was called a CPU. Aa transistors continued to shrink, a point was reached where two or more copies of the CPU could be put on the original sized piece of silicon. But nobody wants to say that they have a 4 CPU CPU so now the individual CPUs on the chip are called “cores”. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/25 "2024-09-10T16:00:36Z")
Yes; this is known as a [naming taboo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_taboo) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/26 "2024-09-10T16:39:27Z")
There is a village west of the town of Westminster VT. They called it Westminster West, rather than the conventional but confusing West Westminster. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/27 "2024-09-10T17:11:35Z")
And when the new pastor hits town, he’s the Westminster West minister? 😄 ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/28 "2024-09-10T17:24:43Z")
Hollywood Fla hd a street called Hood. Was it named after the confederate general. Perhaps. I recently noticed it is now called Hope St. Nice change. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/29 "2024-09-10T17:27:29Z")
The noble title “Earl”. It is a cognate of the Scandinavian term “Jarl” and is considered the British equivalent of the Continental title “Count,” which is not used in the UK. Yet an Earl’s wife (or a female holder of an earldom in her own right) is a Countess. And the title ranking in the British peerage right under an Earl is a Viscount, not a Vice-Earl. So why aren’t Earls simply called Counts? One theory I read is that, at the time when the title got established in the Middle Ages, “Count” would have sounded too much like “cunt,” so was eschewed in favor of “Earl”. No proof of this, but an interesting speculation. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/30 "2024-09-10T17:34:46Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > There is a village west of the town of Westminster VT. They called it Westminster West, rather than the conventional but confusing West Westminster. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/F4ya8Jx577o/hqdefault.jpg "Community - Most Confusing Battlefields at Greendale") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4ya8Jx577o) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/31 "2024-09-10T17:51:11Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Heh, reminds me of the baseball team ‘The Los Angeles Angels’, which, if entirely translated to English, would be ‘The The Angels Angels’. > > I mentioned that in another thread, and someone pointed out that ‘The La Brea Tar Pits’ if translated would read ‘The The Tar Tar Pits’. There’s lots of these. Lake Tahoe: Lake Lake (Washo language) Lake Michigan: Lake Large Lake (Ojibwe) Lake Ontario: Lake Great Lake (Huron) according to one story Timor Leste: East East (Malay-Portuguese) > [@kayaker](#): > > In the 60s, a bird seed for finches was sold. It was _Guizotia abyssinica_, but the common name was niger. > > The seed name niger was a problem. Sometimes it was marketed as thistle, but it isn’t thistle. A bird seed company renamed/rebranded the seed Nyjer (always capitalized). Laura Nyro’s real name is Nigro. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/32 "2024-09-10T18:17:50Z")
The Holy Roman Empire. Not Holy or Roman or an Empire goes the old joke, if you are too young to get it. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/33 "2024-09-10T18:18:25Z")
I’ve seen boxes of “Cod Chunks” in the freezer at the store. I guess “Cod Pieces” weren’t as appetizing. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/34 "2024-09-10T18:21:18Z")
The current scandal around Thames Water hasn’t been referred to as “Water-gate” as far as I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/35 "2024-09-10T18:44:24Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > The Peanut. > It’s not a _pea_ or a _nut_. A peanut is a pea. As you rightly say, its a legume - its not incorrect to grant the common name ‘pea’ to any member of that botanical family. Chickpeas, cowpeas, sweet peas, sea peas are all different species. If it’s a legume and it has ‘pea’ in the name, then its a pea, because that’s all it takes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/36 "2024-09-10T19:00:24Z")
Supposedly a lot of streets in London and othe large cities now named ‘grove street’ were formerly called ‘grope street’, or worse. > **[Gropecunt Lane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane)** > > Gropecunt Lane (/ˈɡroʊpkʌnt/) was a street name found in English towns and cities during the Middle Ages, believed to be a reference to the prostitution centred on those areas; it was normal practice for a medieval street name to reflect the street's function or the economic activity taking place within it. Gropecunt, the earliest known use of which is in about 1230, appears to have been derived as a compound of the words grope and cunt. Streets with that name were often in the busiest part... ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/37 "2024-09-10T19:10:26Z")
[Debunking the old joke that George C. Marshal didn’t want to be called “Marshal Marshal”](https://www.marshallfoundation.org/articles-and-features/marshall-five-star-rank/) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/38 "2024-09-10T19:26:16Z")
My son had a Sgt. Sargent in boot camp. No one dared snicker. Apparently, he didn’t take the joke well. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/39 "2024-09-10T19:29:49Z")
Harry Baals was a good man. Some even say great. > **[Harry Baals](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Baals)** > > Harry William Baals (/bɔːlz/ BAWLZ; November 16, 1886 – May 9, 1954) was an American politician who was the Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, from 1934 to 1947, and from 1951 until his death in 1954. > When Baals first took office, he consolidated city departments and lowered city tax rates. He launched construction of Fort Wayne's massive underground sewage system and had the city sewage treatment plant built, which is still being used today.\[citation needed\] > During the Great Depression... So why did everybody get so upset when it was proposed to name the government center after him? > **[Fort Wayne, Indiana Nearly Had a 'Harry Baals Government Center'](https://wrkr.com/fort-wayne-indiana-nearly-named-government-building-after-harry-baals/)** > > Listen... it sounds funny, but it's real serious. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056/40 "2024-09-10T19:42:57Z")
_Stool Bus Septic_ in Utah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-the-usual-name-is-a-no-go/1007056.md?page=3)