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Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
231–240 of 346 posts
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#232Does "Git" count? ;-) (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git#Naming )
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Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#233You might think Morgan Hill, California was named because of a prominent feature of the landscape. Nope, named after a guy named Morgan Hill. (And the hill you see in Morgan Hill, CA is actually named El Toro — the Spanish word for "lawnmower". Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here for one more night.)
> El Toro — the Spanish word for "lawnmower"
Not even close!
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#234You might think Morgan Hill, California was named because of a prominent feature of the landscape. Nope, named after a guy named Morgan Hill. (And the hill you see in Morgan Hill, CA is actually named El Toro — the Spanish word for "lawnmower". Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here for one more night.)
One might think that Menlo Park, California was founded after the one made famous by Edison in New Jersey, but amazingly it's the other way around. Via Wikipedia: In 1876, Thomas Edison set up his home and research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, at the time an unsuccessful real estate development named after the town of Menlo Park, California.
Years later, part of Menlo Park, NJ was renamed “Edison, NJ” in honor of Thomas Edison.
Ofc, California didn’t adopt a similar change.
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#235The generic Hungarian word for trash cans, 'kuka', unexpectedly originates from the names of German industrialists Johann Josef Keller and Jakob Knappich. The story is quite involved, to the extent that one would be tempted to dismiss it as a folk etymology, if it wasn't ridiculously well-attested. Keller and Knappich founded an acetylene factory in Augsburg, Bavaria in 1898. They named it Keller und Knappich Augsbur…
The most common word in Japanese for “stapler” is hochikisu or hotchikisu , which seems to come from the name of the E.F. Hotchkiss Company [1], an American manufacturer whose staplers were imported to Japan in the early 20th century. Some Japanese sources [2] say that the word comes from Benjamin Hotchkiss [3], an inventor of machine guns, and that is what I learned many years ago, but that etymology apparently has…
In Switzerland, we call staplers Bostitch, which happens to be the name of an US company that (used to or still does) manufacture them.
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#236You might think Morgan Hill, California was named because of a prominent feature of the landscape. Nope, named after a guy named Morgan Hill. (And the hill you see in Morgan Hill, CA is actually named El Toro — the Spanish word for "lawnmower". Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here for one more night.)
> El Toro — the Spanish word for "lawnmower" Not even close!
They're just being cheeky. Toro is also a brand of lawnmower.
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#237You might think Morgan Hill, California was named because of a prominent feature of the landscape. Nope, named after a guy named Morgan Hill. (And the hill you see in Morgan Hill, CA is actually named El Toro — the Spanish word for "lawnmower". Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here for one more night.)
One might think that Menlo Park, California was founded after the one made famous by Edison in New Jersey, but amazingly it's the other way around. Via Wikipedia: In 1876, Thomas Edison set up his home and research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, at the time an unsuccessful real estate development named after the town of Menlo Park, California.
Edison also had a winter home in Orlando, Florida. And Orlando was NOT founded by George Boole, despite containing both substrings "or" and "and" (but not "not").
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#238The generic Hungarian word for trash cans, 'kuka', unexpectedly originates from the names of German industrialists Johann Josef Keller and Jakob Knappich. The story is quite involved, to the extent that one would be tempted to dismiss it as a folk etymology, if it wasn't ridiculously well-attested. Keller and Knappich founded an acetylene factory in Augsburg, Bavaria in 1898. They named it Keller und Knappich Augsbur…
In Switzerland, there is a company Ochsner, which also manufactured the household bins to go with the hoppers, and patented that. Those bins became mandatory in quite a bunch of municipalities.
Eventually, garbage sacks were introduced like everywhere else, the bins became obsolete, though I still see hoppers from them, so they still make those.
Long story short, the bins (called "Ochsnerchübu") are gone, but the madness of patenting a freaking trashcan resulted in one of Switzerland's most successful bands having named themselves "Patent Ochsner".
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#239The famous British one is Sandwich => Earl of Sandwich.
The online Britannica has an entry on things surprisingly named after people: https://www.britannica.com/story/9-things-you-didnt-know-wer...
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#240I've driven the Outerbridge Crossing probably hundreds of times. That one is blowing my mind.
For those not in the area: it is literally the last bridge one that waterway before you reach the Atlantic Ocean.
The outer-most bridge!
The fact that it is named after the first PANYNJ president (Mr. Outerbridge) is amazing.
It’s like discovering that “Last Gas Station for 40 miles” is owned by Mr. Laststationfortymiles.