Wordlab

Superbia, Invidia, Ira, Accidia, Avaritia, Gula and Luxuria might be company and product names from the lexicon of some naming and branding specialist in the Vatican.

But no, these are the Latin names of the seven deadly sins of Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony and Lust. The first letters of these words form the medieval Latin word saligia, from which the verb saligiare (to commit a deadly sin) is taken.

These are sometimes called capital sins, or cardinal sins. But a cardinal sin is not to be confused with a mortal sin, or with Cardinal Sin, as in Cardinal Sin to miss papal elections.

We also learned that Cardinal Sin was considered papabile.

Papabile (plural: Papabili) is an unofficial Italian term first coined by Vaticanologists and now used internationally in many languages to describe cardinals of whom it is thought likely or possible that they will be elected pope. A convenient English translation would be “popeable”, “one worthy of the position of pope” or “possible (or likely) successor to the pope”.

Cardinal Sin could have chosen the name Pope Saligia, if elected.

Oh, by the way, I’m “guest blogging” over with the lawyers again today if you want to read a serious post about Cardinal Law and the Benefit of Clergy.

James Bond is perhaps the most recognized fictional character name of the last fifty years. But where did Ian Fleming get the inspiration for a name that would come to embody the ultimate suave connoisseur of female favors? As explained by the Cumberland Bird Observers’ Club:

James Bond was an American Ornithologist (someone who studies birds) who wrote the classic field identification book “The Birds of the West Indies”. When Ian Fleming wrote “Casino Royale” in 1952 at his home in Jamaica he needed a name for his fictitious spy and, seeing Bond’s book in his library, decided to “borrow” the author’s name.

“I was determined that my secret agent should be as anonymous a personality as possible,” said Fleming. “It struck me that his [Bond's] name, brief, unromantic and yet very masculine, was just what I needed.”

Bond’s book is still in print and, despite being originally written in 1936, is still the only definitive bird identification book covering all the birds of the West Indies.

Those 1950s West Indian birds have by now spawned a franchise that more than any other has assembled a roster of great character names. Here are some selected favorites:

“Yahoo Mountain Dew…It’ll tickle your innards.” Mountain Dew is one of the three best-named soft drinks of all time, the other two are tackled later in this brand love poem.

The name, the original graphics, the mascot, the product, the ad campaigns and the tagline have made an impression so lasting, that obsessed Dew fan chroniclers make Coca Cola collecting compulsives look slack by comparison. Today we honor that obsession by presenting, almost in its entirety and with added graphic, the following explanation from mountaindewbottles.com:

What is Mountain Dew? Is it the bottle or the drink inside the bottle? Who invented this popular drink and when?

In the early 1940′s, two brothers, Ally and Barney Hartman, were bottling a lithiated-lemon (“7-up” flavor) drink as a personal mixer for hard-liquor. They jokingly called the drink “Mountain Dew” after Tennessee Mountain Moonshine.

In 1946, as a continuation of the joke, Barney and Ally added a paper label (misspelled by the artist) to their mixer showing a hillbilly with a gun and a “by BARNEY and OLLIE” inscription. The bottle was taken to a convention in Gatlinburg, Tennessee and their friends convinced them that this was a marketable drink.

On November 12, 1948 the Hartman Brothers filed for and received a trademark on the now famous label – a professional redraw of the 1946 paper label. The flavor was still the 7-up type flavor originated by them in the 1940′s.

In 1951, Ally ordered the first ACL Mountain Dew bottle. The bottle was green glass with white paint (no red) showing a hillbilly shooting at a revenuer running from an outhouse. The bottle read “by BARNEY and ALLY”. Interestingly, when the bottles arrived they were put in a warehouse and not used till 1955.

In 1954, Charlie Gordon decided that Tri-City Beverage need to add a new flavored drink and contacted his old friend, Ally Hartman. Ally sold Charlie the very first franchise for Mountain Dew and Charlie became the first bottler to commercially sell Mountain Dew (remember, Ally had put his bottles into storage). The very first commercially available ACL Mountain Dew bottle was the “by CHARLIE – JIM and BILL” bottle. Charlie had his concentrate formulated at the Tip Corporation in Marion, VA.

In 1955, based on Tri-City Beverage’s success, Hartman Beverage pulled their bottles out of the warehouse and started bottling Mountain Dew commercially. Bill Kibler left Tri-City Beverage that year which left Charlie and his plant manager, Jim Archer. They produced another run of bottles that said “by CHARLIE and JIM”.

Also in 1955, two other brothers, RB (Richard or Dick) and Herman Minges worked out a deal with Ally Hartman and started bottling Mountain Dew at their Fayetteville, NC Pepsi plant. Along with their other brother Dean, the first Minges bottle (the fourth ACL Mountain Dew bottle) was produced under the “by DEAN and DICK” label.

In 1957, Herman left the Fayetteville Pepsi Plant to start a new Pepsi plant in Lumberton, NC with his father LL Minges. They put out the fifth Mountain Dew Bottle – “by HERMAN & L.L.”.

In August of 1957, the Tip Corporation was purchased by five men: Bill Jones (it’s current President), Ally Hartman, RB Minges, Herman Minges and Wythe Hull. Wythe was a Marion, Virginia Pepsi bottler, but he never produced Mountain Dew since Charlie Gordon had that territories franchise.

On November 30th, 1957 Ally Hartman sold Mountain Dew to the Tip Corporation.

In 1959 Bill Bridgforth became the plant manager of Tri-City Beverage in Johnson City, Tennessee and worked with Bill Jones to develop a lemonade flavored drink called Tri-City Lemonade. The concentrate is produced by the Tip Corporation.

In 1960, Bill Bridgforth moved his Tri-City Lemonade flavor into the Mountain Dew Bottle which replacing [sic] the 7-up flavor. This new lemonade flavor is the flavor that is bottled as Mountain Dew today.

In 1962, Herman Minges also moves the Tri-City Lemonade flavor into his Mountain Dew Bottles to compete against a drink called SunDrop Cola.

On May 29th 1962 Tip grants it’s first franchise to Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Kinston, NC. Kinston orders the “by HOYT MINGES” bottle.

On September 2nd 1964 Pepsi purchases the Tip Corporation and as such the Mountain Dew Flavor.

In 1965, Pepsi announces the “Yahoo Mountain Dew…It’ll tickle your innards” campaign. The Mountain Dew bottle is redesigned, Willy the hillbilly (named after Willy Mcfalls) is redesigned and names are no longer allowed on the bottles. Up until this point about 174 different named bottles had been produced. However, many named bottles were still produced after 1965. Refer to the complete history for details.

For those of you still thirsting for more, we found a different site that features The Master List of Named Mountain Dew Bottles. Whew! Fortunately, far less is known about the 7-Up name. From infoplease.com:

The popular lemon-lime flavored soft drink was created by Charles Leiper Grigg in 1929.

His fist name for the new soda was “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.” That became “7-Up Lithiated Lemon-Lime,” before Grigg settled on simply “7-Up.”

According to the official web site of 7-Up, which has been a product of the Cadbury Schweppes Company since 1995, there are several theories about how Grigg came up with the unusual name.

Here are the most plausible stories.

1. He named it after a cattle brand he saw that looked like a “7 Up.”
2. He thought of it while rooting for sevens during a game of craps.
3. 7-Up has seven ingredients.
4. The words “seven up” have seven letters.
5. The original 7-Up bottle held seven ounces.

And lastly but thankfully, nothing is known of the origins of the name Orange Crush. A truly wonderful name that became a slang term for an infamous defoliant used in the Vietnam War, a nickname for the Denver Bronco’s defense, a song and, sadly, a mixed drink that contains no Orange Crush but rather Vodka, Triple Sec, Orange Juice and yes, 7up. But the pictures sure are pretty.

Ahhh… drink up!

We talk a lot about language as it appears in advertising and marketing, and especially in the names that define brands, but the most crucial arena for finding the right words is in international diplomacy, where our very survival is at stake.

In the latest development in the tug-of-war over potential war with Iraq, the United States and France are wrestling over the language of the proposed United Nations resolution that would force Iraq to disarm, or else…. The sticking point comes down to two words: “material breach,” in this case of Iraq’s past U.N. obligations. The U.S. wants very badly to include those two words, “to show the Security Council’s resolve in the face of Iraq’s failure to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.”

The French, however, were concerned that the mention of “material breach” would allow the United States to attack Iraq on its own. Diplomats said French and the U.S. diplomats were talking about ways to change the wording to make the text acceptable to both sides.

Not quite the home run that “It depends on what your definition of is is,” perhaps, but startling nonetheless, as yet another reminder of how history is often painstakingly built upon a foundation of words.