LSA Member Spotlight: Laurel Sutton
I was the featured LSA member for October 2021 at the Linguistics Society of America. Laurel Sutton (she/her) is a linguist, strategist, and co-founder of Catchword, a naming and branding …
How To Pick An International Brand Name: Catchword Video
Think you can vet a brand name destined for a foreign country simply by running it by someone you know who speaks the language fluently? Think again. It takes a …
Who Owns Klingon?
This post originally appeared at the Duets Blog. The short answer: No one knows. The long answer: No one knows, and it’s complicated. As a linguist, I have more than a …
Sugarpova: Does it taste as weird as it sounds?
This post originally appeared at the Duets Blog. Wimbledon is winding down and fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova has been eliminated from the competition, dashing her hopes for a combined 10th anniversary …
Don’t use this acronym: Laurel Sutton has a place in the OED
This post originally appeared at Catch This. On my desk sits the Compact version of the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the most amazing publications ever put together by humans. …
Coca Cola, Chek Cola, or Rally Cola?: Laurel Sutton’s store brand naming article
This post originally appeared at Catch This. I was delighted that I was asked to contribute a paper to the volume entitled “Onomastics in Contemporary Public Space“. It gave me …
Coined Names: Some Old Favorites
This post originally appeared at Catch This. Midol. Lysol. Maybelline. Kodak. Listerine. Oreo. What do these brand names have in common? Believe it or not, all of them have been around …
Alliteration: Artistic and Appealing
This post originally appeared at Catch This. We’re often asked how we create our names. Our answer is that naming is both an art and a science – the art …
Dagnabbit is not an adjective: Progressive fails on language use
This post originally appeared at Catch This. Today’s lesson is about language use, and more specifically, how to use a swear word correctly. I am usually a fan of Progressive’s …
Linguistics in the Working World: Interview with Laurel Sutton
This post originally appeared at Catch This. The fine folks that are the Masters in Language and Communication (MLC) Program at Georgetown University interviewed me for their blog. Mostly we …