Getting the DL on the Brands PDQ

As I have admitted in this column on several occasions, I am very smart. If you were not aware of this, just ask me. However, it is probably not a good idea to ask my children, my best friends or the people in my Sunday school class. Therefore, I see it as my responsibility to enlighten you, my readers.

I found a list of abbreviations and acronyms which most people don’t know the source of. We use these all the time, but do we know what they stand for?

For instance, the 3M company which produces tape and glue and sticky notes has its home offices in Minnesota. They stick things together. I figured it had to do with Manufacturing, but it stands for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. Mining? What are they mining? Cellophane tape? Paper? I’m not sure what they’ve been mining, but money might be a good thing to add to it — maybe 4M.

Another interesting tidbit is the origin of the Smart Car name. I had always thought that it came from the fact that people were trying to be smart with their money, smart with the environment and smart with finding a parking place. Nope. It started off with those little Swiss watches that everyone was wearing back in the 1980s. Swatch made a bundle after which they decided to look for something else plastic and made a deal with Mercedes. So, the Swatch and Mercedes Art car was developed. Maybe since a Swatch was one of the most expensive watches my girls ever wanted for Christmas and the Mercedes is known for highend rides, it is no wonder that the Smart car is expensive and so small you have to have to wear it to work.

I guess when these automobile manufacturers got started in central Europe, they hated to name their company after a bunch of yodelers. So, instead of Bavarian Motor Works, they just called their company BMW. I thought it was an English company, British Motor Works, but I was wrong. That company is spelled Rolls-Royce.

Some products are named after the number of failures the chemist had before they got it right. Formula 409 was actually the last try, maybe because they finally got it right, or they ran out of money to try for anything else. I’m not sure, but the name stuck. Likewise, WD 40 was a fortieth attempt at finding a water displacement product. For those who don’t know, it’s not just an oil, it dries up moisture, thus preventing rust and such. See how smart I am.

Of course, some people name their companies after themselves like they do their kids. To keep from looking too ego-centric, they sometimes play with their names. The man who invented PAM, the kitchen spray called it Product of Arthur Meyerhoff. Adidas was named after its founder who happened to be named Adolph Dassler. I guess Adolph didn’t have a good ring to it, so Adi (his nickname) was used along with the first few letters of his last name. M&Ms were named after Mr. Mars and his partner Mr. Murrie.

Q-tips were not named after anyone. They just meant Quality. GEICO was the Government Employees Insurance Company. I guess they figured out the lizard thing later. And finally, Canola is not named after a bean. It means Canadian Oil, Low Acid. I thought for sure somewhere out there was a farmer growing little Canola plants.

That goes to show you, I sometimes don’t know everything, but now you do.