June 2, 2015
Hats off to Caitlyn Jenner. Her courage to share her transition with the public marks an important step towards equality for trans individuals everywhere. Cailtyn’s cover shot on Vanity Fair shows us that trans is beautiful, that we all have the freedom to define our own identity. While Bruce Jenner confirmed the gender transition during […]
June 14, 2012
For almost a year I had sworn off Cablevision. It was making me poor and I was watching .004% of the programming. For reasons I won’t get into here, I am again a sucker, paying for shows I don’t watch and having to dip into my kids’ college fund to subsidize our idiocy. So now […]
May 24, 2012
At Catchword, we talk a lot about name creation, but you might also be curious about what happens after you end up with “The One.” Considering all the work that went into coming up with your names, you probably hope that the tough stuff is over. The answer is yes: the roughest part is over, […]
April 14, 2010
We couldn’t help ourselves: The KFC Double Down was just such a wacky sandwich and product name that we had to try our hand at renaming it. What would you have named the Double Down? Here are a bunch of our other, catchy names. Can you do better? Chickadon’t (from Chickadee) Chicken Out Chicky Clear! […]
April 29, 2009
I read recently that PRWeek was changing its publication schedule to monthly (see NYT article). And so here we have yet another example of the perils of using overly descriptive brand names. Don’t get me wrong. Descriptive brand names can work, when executed well. International Business Machines, Sports Illustrated, General Electric — These are all […]
February 17, 2009
The announcement was so made so quietly that one might even call it stealthy – or perhaps covert. Over the long Presidents’ Day weekend, when people were distracted, busy with Valentine’s Day, and generally thinking about whether they would have jobs to come back to, the military contractor Blackwater officially changed its name to Xe. […]
January 14, 2009
This is just too funny. I don’t even know how to comment. One of these days, maybe I’ll think of a few other “mayoral name changes” that might be in order. Until then, just read and chuckle: Mayor to Change Name
October 31, 2008
In a bid to protest animal dissections in school, a 19-year-old Kentucky girl has legally changed her name to CutoutDissection.com. So 1999.
August 11, 2008
The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is in the market for a new name after being affectionately and famously known as SLAC for 46 years. The Energy Department, which funds SLAC, wants a name that can be trademarked (and which will better reflect its new emphasis on particle astrophysics and photon science) — but Stanford University […]
June 12, 2008
I saw a recent ad in the New York Times announcing the name change of the management consulting group of Booz Allen Hamilton to just Booz & Company. At first I thought it was a joke – maybe something management consultants do to one another instead of putting cellophane on the toilet on April Fool’s […]