I Can Create Words – I’m a Linguist: Forbes Special Report on Neologisms
This post originally appeared at Catch This. This was published a few weeks ago, but I didn’t have a chance to blog it till now. Forbes, of all publications, put …
Born Again: GodTube Becomes Tangle
This post originally appeared at Catch This. Yeah, I know the title was a cheap joke, but what the heck. I knew that GodTube existed, but just the other day …
This is a Disaster: SciFi rebrands as Syfy
This post originally appeared at Catch This. From our friend Nancy Friedman comes this disturbing news: Syfy The New York Times reports that cable television’s Sci Fi Channel has been …
ID, please: Facebook Won’t Allow “Batman”
This post originally appeared at Catch This. This story recently made the round on the mailing list of the American Name Society. From the Washington Post: What Caitlin wanted did …
This is a Job for Wolverine: Clawing Back Profits
This post originally appeared at Catch This. The phrase “claw back” has been popping up in the news lately, specifically in reference to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme mega-super-ripoff. I had …
Beer and Speedballs: More Energy Drink Naming
This post originally appeared at Catch This. Once upon a time there was an energy drink named Cocaine. Highly caffeinated, it was pulled in 2007 by its maker, Redux Beverages, …
Slink Slank Slunk: Product Naming As Seen On TV!
This post originally appeared at Catch This. As my fellow office-mates at Catchword World Headquarters will tell you, I’m always cold. Always. On any given day, I will be wearing …
La la la la I Can’t Hear You: Banished Words of 2008
This post originally appeared at Catch This. Recently Lake Superior State University announced its 34th annual list of Banished Words for 2008. (The full title is much more snarky, in …
Meth with cream: Fortified coffee naming
I was in a 7-Eleven over the weekend and got some coffee. The store near me has a huge self-service coffee station with all kind of cups, flavors, creamers, sweeteners, …
What Comes After Biggest?: The Naming of Sizes
Increases in storage technology are necessitating names for the ever-expanding amount of space available in computers. In the old days (pre-1990), a hard drive that could hold 40 MB (megabytes; …