Unfortunate corporate monikers
Ifop (France’s public opinion institute)
PMS awards
Royal Ahold (supermarkets)
Hell hotels (Cheap, budget, mid-range and luxury)
Cummins Power Systems: “exclusive distributor of Cummins and Onan products”
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Comment
- How does one go about getting nominated for a PMS award? Is it based on the worst PMS? Or the least (best?)?
— cmb Jul 23, 2:12pm # - It’s worse than you think. Hell isn’t a corporate moniker but the name of the town. It’s somehow fitting that they have a blues festival.
— sterna Jul 24, 3:18am # - Ha, that’s even funnier.
And puts me in mind of Geist’s maps of Canadian towns.
— gail Jul 24, 6:31am # - Back when the Alliance first amalgamated, and apparently before any of them learned to put together an acronym, they called themselves the Convervative-Reform Alliance Party.
— August Jul 24, 5:18pm # - when you come and stay with us we’ll put you up in the ‘coq hardi’ hotel. first of many acrpentras jewels.
— ruth Jul 24, 6:14pm # - My church uses an Onan generator to power our kitchen. It is, alas, not self-starting, so when the power goes out someone needs to go down there and get the poor thing up by hand.
— dan Jul 25, 3:41pm # - Don’t forget PowerGen’s office’s in Italy.
Once, they had a website at http://www.powergenitalia.com/ (link courtesy of the Internet Archive).
Also, there was a snack machine at IBM in RTP, NC that used to dispense “HO-MADE HONEY BUNS”. Eventually, someone wised up and the labels quietly changed to “HOME-MADE”.
— Smerp! Jul 25, 4:47pm # - Overwaitea—corporate grocery chain in B.C. Yes, the final ‘a’ is silent…
— MOJ Jul 25, 6:36pm # - And Belgiums…
Herpain Construction
(very large signs all over town)
— vaska Jul 29, 5:10pm # - At least once a week I find myself stuck in traffic behind an ASS Anlagen Service System delivery van.
— mig Aug 2, 3:22pm # - FAG ball bearings. The big companies are SKF (Swe), NTN (Japan), Timken(USA), and FAG. They used to have a big sign on the 401 coming into Toronto, within a couple miles of the other three. But now it’s gone. I always wanted to go in there and get a FAG ballcap.
I thought I might have some fun googling FAG. As has happened so many times in the past-I googled “itchy toes” once to learn about my athlete’s foot, and ran into a filthy short story-I forget if it’s the one where the woman starts an affair with her German shepherd, then moves onto (as it were) her Palomino, or the guy whose wife humiliates him to the point of….actually I never finished either one. Bad writing.
Hi Gail.
So I googled the word FAG, anticipating lurid pop-ups, and I got page after page after page after page of——ball bearings! FAG Canada, FAG Italia, FAG Venezuela, FAG Malaysia. I didn’t think there could be a word with even the remotest sexual connotation that wouldn’t bring up the Porn industry in all it’s messy glory.
— J. LoPinto Aug 12, 1:49am # - Speaking of FAG:
I visisted Germany in 1998. I stayed in beautiful Schweinfurt with my stepsister and her husband who was stationed at the US Army base there.
On the way into town, my stepbrother-in-law casually mentioned that we will be turning right at the huge fag. I was perplexed until he pointed to this gigantic factory with the word FAG written on it. He explained, “They have been making ball bearings here for many years, including during WWII. It’s because of that factory that Schweinfurt was a strategic target in the war, because, without ball bearings, tanks don’t work too well.”
Anyways, the company’s main website has this great navigational tab at the top: “myFAG”.
— Scott Aug 12, 2:14pm # - I teach English occasionally at a department of the French bank Societe General called SGAM (say it out loud). Many of my banker students describe themselves as BO agents (Back Office, it turns out).
I like your blog, Gail.
— Katrina Aug 27, 10:09pm #
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