Grandma–what’s for dinner?

‘Let’s eat Grandma!’ or, ‘Let’s eat, Grandma!’ Punctuation saves lives.

 Let’s eat Grandma is the title of one of the many items I read almost daily.  If  you like to see  words misused and mangled,  embarrassing and hilarious punctuation errors and just plain funny sentences depending on the punctuation, this is for you.  (Be advised: Some are their examples are probably PG-rated, and not for the easily offended)

The site also has a great selection of signs, posters and documents that you will not believe were produced.

The site is on a Facebook group, and as of this week it had 615,853 followers.  We all should be so lucky.

Naming a new company

 

flickr karen horton

Picking the name for a company was the topic of a wordsbybob blog post almost a year ago.  I still shake my head at some I see as I am out and about. 

I found a blog post by Brian Banmiller  (he has a blog and I have heard him on the radio) that gives some great ideas on what has worked and not worked.

Banmiller gives some examples of company names that have worked and some that have not.   Take a look at his blog when you get a chance.  

Overall, he says there are various theories on how to attack the topic. Some of the techniques suggested are: 

    Pasting two words together, which he calls hooking.  

    Conjuring up new words 

    Drop a letter off an existing word 

    Using parts of two words to make an entirely  new one 

    Purposely misspelling a word 

    Double letters — repeat a letter on a word. 

    Going with the ever popular “E” or “You” in front of a word. 

    Using foreign words 

Let me know if you have tried any of these.

Mascots–gotta love em

Mascot names fascinate me.  High schools get so creative with their use.  My prior posts on this topic have received many hits, so I think I am not alone.  See Mascot names—the wacky, wimpy and weird, Mascot Names—What were they thinking and Mascot names with an agricultural bent.

Here are some new ones:

In the “this is too clever” department, we have the Cairo, GA (pronounced ka-row like the syrup) Syrupmakers.

The cuteness meter pegged out when I saw the Harper Woods, MI Regina Saddelites. Since this school looks to be an all-girl’s Catholic institution, maybe they should have been called the side-saddlelites. Further investigation shows the school emblem is a pair of saddle shoes.   (The swim team even has a logo of saddle-shoe swim fins.)  Ok, I get it!

Can you stand one more? Venice, CA has the Gondoliers as their team mascot. The school motto is “Rowing, not drifting.”  Maybe I should have attended there.  I did lots of drifting in high school.