When I first heard the name "Safari" • Hacker News Board

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#151

Post by nuclear_eclipse » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 11:14 PM UTC

bitwize wrote: post #120

philwelch wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another example: "iPad".

"Wii". Oh, how the jokes flowed when the name was announced. Then the sales numbers came out, and people stopped joking.

Some of us still didn't stop. A bad name is a bad name, regardless of how good the product might be.

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#152

Post by city41 » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 11:49 PM UTC

yen223 wrote: post #3

Calling the browser 'Safari' is weird, if you think about it. I remember trying to teach my mom how to use the iPad to access the internet: "First press the home button" "Ok" "Now tap on Safari" "But I don't want to see animals" "..." And that's when I realized why Internet Explorer was so successful.

I've always felt Microsoft has been very good at grabbing very generic, "standard" names: Word, Office, Windows, Internet Explorer, etc. These names become very iconic in and of themselves and they just "feel" like the market leader, whether you are familiar with them or not.

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#153

Post by bluesmoon » Thu, Dec 20, 2012, 11:57 PM UTC

happimess wrote: post #147

bluesmoon wrote: post #132

I always thought it came from the Hindi word Safari, which translates to Traveller or Explorer (Safar is a Journey). I personally codename my projects pffft.

According to etymonline[1], it comes from Arabic through Swahili. [1] http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&s...

I suppose they're both of Indo-European origin.

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#154

Post by pbhjpbhj » Fri, Dec 21, 2012, 12:00 AM UTC

nuclear_eclipse wrote: post #151

bitwize wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Wii". Oh, how the jokes flowed when the name was announced. Then the sales numbers came out, and people stopped joking.

Some of us still didn't stop. A bad name is a bad name, regardless of how good the product might be.

In part the "bad" name helped to spread the word of the product initially; it was a hook for many stories that would otherwise not have been written IMO. Thousands of media outlets poked fun at it all the while informing the world about a revolutionary new Nintendo system.

Genius.

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#155

Post by Keyframe » Fri, Dec 21, 2012, 12:18 AM UTC

natem345 wrote: post #124

emehrkay wrote: post #110

I feel like I am pretty good at naming things (I dont think about it for too long, if that matters). Describe to me a product and I'll name it for you.

An app that lets your remotely control monitor on/off & sleep/hibernate/shutdown/wake your PC.

Wakey Wakey™ ...next!

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#156

Post by groby_b » Fri, Dec 21, 2012, 12:26 AM UTC

terhechte wrote: post #27

melvinmt wrote: post #18

But why is the icon a compass though?

When you're on a safari in amazonas, that's what you need in order to find your way (well, nowadays a GPS might do wonders, but when the name safari was historically established, there was no gps)

Trust me, when you're out in the boondocks, you still want a compass. Sure, GPS is great. Until you can't find a satellite, or it runs out of batteries, or a gazillion other things that can go wrong with electronics in the wilderness.

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#157

Post by g8oz » Fri, Dec 21, 2012, 12:41 AM UTC

nacker wrote: post #139

bengoodger wrote: post #127

Product naming can be ridiculously hard. Even if you have something you personally think is clever, everyone else can think you're a dork. Related anecdotes: When trying to come up with a name for Firefox (after having two other names rejected due to trademark snafus), a friend of mine sarcastically rattled off a bunch of alternatives using the same prefix as the outgoing "Firebird" on IRC one night. I think it was "…

I had been a Phoenix user for several months when I heard it had run into problems with the name. When I heard it was going to be called Firefox, I thought it was the most ridiculous name I'd ever heard! Funny, now I really like it. When I first heard the name Barack, though... http://rense.com/general84/brck.htm

Sincerely hope you posted that link in jest

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#158

Post by g8oz » Fri, Dec 21, 2012, 12:43 AM UTC

bluesmoon wrote: post #153

happimess wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to etymonline[1], it comes from Arabic through Swahili. [1] http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&s...

I suppose they're both of Indo-European origin.

Arabic is Semitic not Indo-European.

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#159

Post by icodestuff » Fri, Dec 21, 2012, 1:31 AM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #86

Based on no evidence whatsoever, just an intuition about Jobs, I would not be surprised if the point of reference was Surfin' Safari - the Beach Boys song. It is free from the negative connotations of a reference to Africa and consistent with the sort of Californian to which Jobs aspired. Apple was funded by a VW microbus after all. The play on surfing is consistent with Apple's image of how consumers should be orien…

I always assumed that was it. Ironically, I haven't heard anyone say "surfing the web" since Safari came out.

Re: When I first heard the name "Safari"

#160

Post by pavel_lishin » Fri, Dec 21, 2012, 1:38 AM UTC

eridius wrote: post #149

habitue wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, now "Internet Explorer" there's a name! What does it do? Explores the Internet of course!

I still have a fondness for the name "Netscape Navigator". It seems a shame that we never started using the term "netscape" to refer to the internet.

I'm so used to Netscape being a brand name, it took me at least ten seconds to break the word up into its constituent words, and understand what you meant.