In my hometown there's a shop with two big signs: "Puertas Motos" and "Motos Puertas". I've always passed by too fast, by car, so I can't tell if it's some guy whose name is Puertas selling motorbikes or some guy called Motos selling doors.
Things Unexpectedly Named After People
141–150 of 294 posts
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#142I find this post and comments to be surprisingly delightful. I'll aggregate the scattered gems in the comments here: - Sideburns : Named after the American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside. - Heaviside function (a mathematical step function) : named after Oliver Heaviside - The Children's python (animal) : Named after John George Children. - Snowflake, AZ : Named after Erastus Snow and William Jordon Flake. - Lake…
Sadly, I can't edit the comment anymore. Here are a few more. - German Chocolate Cake - Named after the English-American chocolate maker Samuel German. - Baker's Chocolate (popular American brand of baking chocolate) - Named after Dr. William Baker - Loop subdivision (CG term) - Named after its inventor Charles Loop. - French Hill (neighborhood in Jerusalem) - Named after British general John French. (Disputed) - Mob…
According to Snopes, the song "Sweet Home Alabama" was actually inspired by a radio commercial for "Sweet Homes" that had aired decades earlier. Full circle.
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#143Southern blot, but not western blot.
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#144I find this post and comments to be surprisingly delightful. I'll aggregate the scattered gems in the comments here: - Sideburns : Named after the American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside. - Heaviside function (a mathematical step function) : named after Oliver Heaviside - The Children's python (animal) : Named after John George Children. - Snowflake, AZ : Named after Erastus Snow and William Jordon Flake. - Lake…
Sadly, I can't edit the comment anymore. Here are a few more. - German Chocolate Cake - Named after the English-American chocolate maker Samuel German. - Baker's Chocolate (popular American brand of baking chocolate) - Named after Dr. William Baker - Loop subdivision (CG term) - Named after its inventor Charles Loop. - French Hill (neighborhood in Jerusalem) - Named after British general John French. (Disputed) - Mob…
I like Mobile home especially because of affects how you write it, and how you say it.
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#145I find this post and comments to be surprisingly delightful. I'll aggregate the scattered gems in the comments here: - Sideburns : Named after the American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside. - Heaviside function (a mathematical step function) : named after Oliver Heaviside - The Children's python (animal) : Named after John George Children. - Snowflake, AZ : Named after Erastus Snow and William Jordon Flake. - Lake…
Sadly, I can't edit the comment anymore. Here are a few more. - German Chocolate Cake - Named after the English-American chocolate maker Samuel German. - Baker's Chocolate (popular American brand of baking chocolate) - Named after Dr. William Baker - Loop subdivision (CG term) - Named after its inventor Charles Loop. - French Hill (neighborhood in Jerusalem) - Named after British general John French. (Disputed) - Mob…
For the benefit of anyone else reading fabrication is the key word in the origin of “Mobile homes”
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#146Main St in San Franciso is less surprising when you see it is a pretty insignificant street.
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#147I find this post and comments to be surprisingly delightful. I'll aggregate the scattered gems in the comments here: - Sideburns : Named after the American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside. - Heaviside function (a mathematical step function) : named after Oliver Heaviside - The Children's python (animal) : Named after John George Children. - Snowflake, AZ : Named after Erastus Snow and William Jordon Flake. - Lake…
Nice. As an aside, how do you pronounce Heaviside? Is it hevy-side or heevy-side or...?
At university in the UK it was always pronounced heavy-side.
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is there another pre-existing meaning for "poubelle" that makes this naming unexpected? I mean, it _is_ the French term for "trash can". It might be surprising to you, for example, if you'd suddenly find out that trash cans are named after "Michael Trashcan" or something along those lines.
It's a "can" that one puts "trash" into, so the term appears descriptive on the surface. When it then turns out to just be named after the inventor, it would indeed be quite surprising. Which is why I was asking whether there was some pre-existing meaning for the word. Otherwise it's like: Oh my God! I just realized that Zeppelins were invented by Graf von Zeppelin. What are the odds of the person inventing airships…
Can you believe Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig's Disease
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#149German Chocolate Cake owes its name to an English-American chocolate maker named Samuel German.
You might make your German Chocolate Cake with Baker's Chocolate, a popular American brand of baking chocolate, named for Dr. William Baker, who founded a chocolate importing company.
Not so much you might, but you most likely would have used Baker's chocolate: Mr. German, the baker/chocolatier, worked for Baker's chocolate when he invented his dark chocolate formulation, and German's chocolate was sold under the Baker's Chocolate brand. All this took place over 150 yrs ago.
The cake made from German's chocolate was invented by a housewife in the 1950's and the recipe published in a newspaper; General Foods, by then the owner of Bakers, took notice and started to include the recipe in its packaging.
Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People
#150Smart & Final, the chain of warehouse food and supply stores, is named after a "J.S. Smart" and an "H.D. Final".