# Where does the word "Acme" come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804 "2000-09-11T19:42:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muskoka9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Muskoka9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muskoka9)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/1 "2000-09-11T19:42:11Z")
As a child, I always thought that the Acme Company was limited to cartoons. The various incarnations of it sold products ranging from rockets to holes, mainly to Wiley E. Coyote. But as I grew older, I saw all kinds of Acme companies (my favourite is the Acme Nipple Manufacturing Company in Buffalo, NY). So where does this Acme word come from and why do people use it to name their businesses? What does it mean? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/2 "2000-09-11T19:47:48Z")
_Acme_, IIRC, comes from the ancient Greek and means ‘pinnacle’ or ‘peak’. Hence, if you’re at the acme of something, you can’t get any higher. So if you want to stress the fine qualities of your product, and insinuate there’s none better to be had - yes, friends, we’re often imitated, never duplicated - then there’s nothing better than calling yourself the acme. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2000, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/3 "2000-09-11T21:39:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muskoka9 \* > \*\*So where does this Acme word come from and why do people use it to name their businesses? What does it mean? \*\* There’s a nifty new invention that will tell you what words mean, and even where they came from. It’s called a “dictionary.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/4 "2000-09-12T00:05:45Z")
Acme is what I want someone to do when I call them “Knight”. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/5 "2000-09-12T02:15:57Z")
IIRC, the cartoonists used the “Acme” name because there was a real “Acme” company visibile from their office window. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/6 "2000-09-12T03:12:41Z")
I thought it was a stupid acronym for A Company that Makes Everything. Shoulda known the cartoonists weren’t that clever. ---
**Author:** ![Muskoka9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Muskoka9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muskoka9)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/7 "2000-09-12T13:21:17Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s a nifty new invention that will tell you what words mean, and even where they came from. It’s called a “dictionary.” Sorry to have wasted the 20 seconds of your life it took you to read the post bibliophage. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/8 "2000-09-12T13:42:50Z")
bibliophage, I will defend Muskoka9, by pointing out that in the context of the question, “Acme” is an always-capitalized proper noun, which one might not expect to find in a dictionary. It’s like asking where the words “Exxon” or “Jello” come from. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/9 "2000-09-12T14:18:16Z")
…and **bibliophage** is demonstrating what the Arabs call the _nadir_, as in the nadir of civility in responding to GQ posters. You think Unca Cecil woulda said something like that if he was asked? …well, yeah, okay, he _woulda_, but only after actually giving the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/10 "2000-09-12T14:35:13Z")
American Consolidated Machinists and Engineers. Twas a early form of standardized quality control. To wear the ACME label was to say that said toaster, blender, rocket powered roller skate, etc.-- had been designed by a qualified engineer and made by a qualified machinist, so hopefully it wouldn’t burn down your house, chew up your fingers, or smash you into the side of a desert cliff. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/11 "2000-09-12T14:47:43Z")
You got backup for that, **Inky-**? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/12 "2000-09-12T15:31:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Olentzero \* > \*\*…and **bibliophage** is demonstrating what the Arabs call the _nadir_, as in the nadir of civility in responding to GQ posters. You think Unca Cecil woulda said something like that if he was asked? > > …well, yeah, okay, he _woulda_, but only after actually giving the answer. \*\* I didn’t have to answer it, because you already had. If you hadn’t, then I would have. ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Don](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e95f7d/32.png) [@Engineer\_Don](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Don)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/13 "2000-09-12T15:47:34Z")
If I remember right from Chuck Amuck (Chuck Jones’s book about making the classics) ACME stands for American Corporation of Manufacturing Engineers. It was basically huge group of small companies trying to band together for name recognition and marketing purposes. They had to meet certain manufacturing standards in order to join the group (no one wanted their name trashed by someone putting out crappy merchandise.) They made everything from toys and toasters to major defense industry products (munitions, deck plates, etc.) I did a search and found all sorts of companies with the name ACME, but not ACME, Inc., which is what the classic Warner Bros. cartoons refered to. I found a site, but the link doesn’t seem to work for me. Maybe someone else can access it. [http://www.mindinmotion.com/acme/intranet/history.htm](http://www.mindinmotion.com/acme/intranet/history.htm) The other answers are probably “right” too, especially the greek definition, but that isn’t the corporation that the toons were refering too. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-the-word-acme-come-from/32804/14 "2000-09-12T17:06:33Z")
From the [Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion](http://www.spumco.com/magazine/eowbcc/eowbcc-a.html): “Acme was widely used as a trademark in the Sears-Roebuck mail order catalogs for a variety of goods. The author owns a 1907 catalog listing Acme anvils for sale. Currently, “Acme” is the name of an animation industry standard for registration equipment.”