Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now I’m curious about MongoDb
MongoDB only pawn in game of life.
Santa Maria!
Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
81–90 of 346 posts
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#82I've driven the Outerbridge Crossing probably hundreds of times. That one is blowing my mind.
The other NYC bridges are all (I think?) named Bridge, but they went with Crossing here because Outerbridge Bridge sounds weird.
Another NYC one: A lot of people think "major" in The Major Deegan Expressway means it is a significant expressway, but actually the expressway is named after (Army) Major William Deegan
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#83The Haribo candies are named after their founder and the location (HAns RIegel + BOnn)
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#84Elbakyan has several biological species named in her honor:
- Idiogramma elbakyanae, a species of parasitoid wasps discovered by Russian and Mexican entomologists in 2017.
- Brachyplatystoma elbakyani [es], an extinct species of catfish discovered by Argentine paleontologists in 2020.
- Amphisbaena elbakyanae, a species of worm lizard discovered in 2021.[58]
- Sibogasyrinx elbakyanae [c; d], a species of deep-sea snail discovered by researchers from Russia and France in 2021
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Elbakyan#Recogniti...
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#85Sleeping much better now with that relaxing clarification for brown noise...
What a great list.
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#86> The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_engine
That seems pretty expected. If you’d asked me to guess where the word diesel came from, I probably would have guessed a name. Compare that to German chocolate cake, which seems preposterous.
German's Chocolate Cake is probably a better name for it. I knew something as up with that one the first time I met a german person and they had never heard of my favorite cake. Baker's chocolate was a surprise to me though, I've always made my German's Chocolate Cake with Baker's chocolate...
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#87French toast - named for Joseph French
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#88The Mackintosh is named after Charles Macintosh, inventor of the modern waterproof raincoat.
The Macintosh is named indirectly after John McIntosh, a Canadian farmer and apple breeder of Scottish descent, who gave his name to the McIntosh Red cultivar.
The Mackintosh building of the Glasgow School of Art is named after Charles Rennie Mackintosh, born McIntosh.
5061 McIntosh is named after Bruce McIntosh, a Canadian astronomer.
Indiana Jones was named after George Lucas's dog
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Main Street in San Francisco was named after Charles Main. I feel this might be a bit of a cheeky urban legend, or at the very least a coincidence. "Main st" has been used in western city's and towns for a lot longer than SF has been around.
San Francisco’s “Main Street” is in no way a major artery, however. Market Street served that function. Here’s an 1853 map https://rumsey.geogarage.com/maps/g3463000.html in which today’s Main Street is only a block long. The map calls it Front St, although there’s another Front St nearby which kept the name – perhaps it was renamed Main to disambiguate once the streets connected?
I worked on Main for years and nobody mentioned this urban legend. while the street is not long, I would not put it past bureaucrats to name a random street Main
Re: Things unexpectedly named after people (2020)
#90French toast - named for Joseph French
Indeed, because the French call it 'pain perdu / lost bread', as in something you do with bread you can't otherwise eat fresh anymore.