Wordlab

Where does the name Milorganite come from? A contest to name a new organic fertilizer was advertised in the National Fertilizer Magazine in 1925. First prize was awarded to McIver and Son of Charleston, South Carolina for their entry “Milorganite,” derived from MILwaukee ORGAnic NITrogEn. “Why Milwaukee?” you ask.

For a list of other company name etymologies, check out Wikipedia.

Many who come to Wordlab for free naming and branding resources are in the process of starting new business ventures. A great name can help, of course, but there’s a lot more to consider in order to ensure success in business. And professional advice is worth the investment in your company’s future. Ask Igor.

And if you’re seriously thinking of starting a new business, you might be wise to get some guidance from the Startup Venture Toolbox created by David Rex of Jackson Walker L.L.P., attorneys and counsellors. The goal of the Toolbox is to provide entrepreneurs with the tools and assistance necessary to help achieve their desired goals as well as to provide a forum for the exploration of entrepreneurial ideas and issues.

The Toolbox is organized in the order that most entrepreneurs follow in taking their ventures from idea to exit.

• First, test out the validity of your idea from the investor’s point-of-view with the Business Proof of Concept Test.
• Then, check out your idea against the world’s public databases of intellectual property filings with the Intellectual Property Advisor.
• If your idea passes these two tests then create a Business Plan and financial statements with the Business Plan Advisor and the Financial Statement Advisor.
• Informational and educational assistance can be found in the Process of Forming a Company, Venture Life Cycle, Articles & Information and Suggested Readings sections.
• The Basic Legal Information & Documents section contains certain legal documents and information necessary to get your venture organized, protected and operating.
• Assistance from service providers specializing in helping entrepreneurs can be found at the Resource Provider Network.
• The Funding Source Advisor explains the fundraising process and the Funding Source Database will assist you with finding sources of capital for your venture. The Investor Presentation Advisor will assist you with creating an attention-grabbing presentation.
• The Valuation Advisor will assist you in determining the value of your venture.
• You can look up the current and prior Toolbox Newsletters at The Toolbox Newsletter section.
• A comprehensive Valuable Links section contains links to websites of entrepreneurial interest as well as various blogs and podcasts about venture capital and private equity.

This is such a great resource, we’ve added a convenient link to the Startup Venture Toolbox in the blogroll on the front page of Wordlab.

A California drug operation manufactured marijuana-laced candy and soft drinks that were packaged to resemble popular products like Jolly Ranchers, Milky Way, and Pop Tarts. DEA raids at indoor pot-growing facilities allegedly headed by Kenneth Affolter, 39, turned up the marijuana-infused products, which carried labels such as Toka-Cola, Pot Tarts, Puff-A-Mint Pattie, Stoney Ranchers, Munchy Way, and Buddahfinger.

A DEA spokesperson told The Smoking Gun that the pot was baked into chocolate bars and hard candies and that the soda contained concentrated hash oil. A label on the ring’s Nestle Crunch knockoff describes the item’s ingredients as “milk chocolate with crisped rice dipped in hash oil rich chocolate.”

Some of the seized items can be seen in seven pages of evidence photos on The Smoking Gun website. It looks like many of the product names were created while naming and branding experts were sampling the treats.

In a statement, DEA agent Javier Pena noted that Affolter’s pot ring, which operated under the name Beyond Bomb, was “not only illegal, but potentially tragic,” since “innocent children will somehow get their hands on these products and think they are just normal candy or soft drinks.”

Sentenced to more than five years in prison for making marijuana-laced treats and soft drinks, Affolter is now being sued for $100,000 by Hershey, which alleges trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition.

Here’s a good article about why companies come up with good names, bad names, and terrible names.

Igor’s naming guide, “Building the Perfect Beast“, was updated last week.

Successful product and company names may appear to have been created by magic, but it is possible to develop names that are dynamic, effective and fully leverage a brand’s potential if you have the right process in place. A process that is clear, insightful, logical and focused will lead to a name and tagline that are powerful components of your brand strategy, and pave the way for buy-in throughout your organization.

Before you begin, it is essential to decide what you want your new product or company name to do for you. To make that decision, you need to understand the possibilities. A name can:

* achieve separation from your competitors
* demonstrate to the world that you are different
* reinforce a unique positioning platform
* create positive and lasting engagement with your audience
* be unforgettable
* propel itself through the world on its own, becoming a no-cost, self-sustaining PR vehicle
* provide a deep well of marketing and advertising images
* be the genesis of a brand that rises above the goods and services you provide
* completely dominate a category

The latest version of Igor’s free 91 page naming guide PDF can be downloaded here.

Porn.com sold today for $9.5 million dollars, not a bad return on a domain name that reportedly sold for a mere $47,000 in 1997. But that’s shy of the $12 million dollars paid for sex.com, which loses hands down to more than $20 million dollars bet on poker.com recently by someone who’s keeping their cards close to the vest. Business.com produced a good return at $7.5 million dollars and vodka.com went for $3 million, which is no small potatoes.

After this warning letter to Redux Beverages from the FDA, Cocaine the energy drink has been pulled from the shelves, leaving these energy drink addicts without their favorite fix.

Attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois recently announced that Redux had agreed to stop marketing Cocaine in those states, while a judge in Texas has halted distribution there.

“Our goal is to literally flush Cocaine down the drain across the nation,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced the company’s agreement with his state Monday. “Our main complaint about Cocaine is its name and marketing strategy seeking to glorify illegal drug use and exploit the allure of marketing ‘Speed in a Can,’ as it called the product.”

The company plans to reboot the energy drink with a new name. “What we would like to do is continue to fight to keep the name because it’s clearly the name that’s the problem,” said a company partner. “What we can’t do is distribute our product when regulators in the states and the FDA are saying that if you do this, you could go to jail.”

Cocaine will re-emerge under the tongue-in-cheek moniker “Censored,” its maker said Friday. “We love the ‘Censored’ name because it has the same rebellious and fun spirit that our original name did,” said Redux Beverages LLC founder Jamey Kirby.

In a special report to the Globe and Mail about water, Joshua Knelman writes that Dasani (made by Coke) and Aquafina (from Pepsi) are now the two top-selling brands in the city of Toronto, and that both companies bottle filtered municipal tap water, one from Calgary and Brampton, the other from Mississauga and Vancouver. So, is bottled water any healthier than Canadian tap water?

In Toronto, bottled water has always played on fears about tap water. In 1963, a 17-year-old named Wayne Smart started Crystal Springs Water Company, shipping spring water from Niagara-on-the-Lake to the city – where the introduction of fluoride into the city’s water had some people nervous.

To marketing professor Robert Soroka, it demonstrates the power of brand over brain. “I’m not even sure a lot of people know what they’re buying,” says Prof. Soroka of McGill University. “It’s perceived that water in a bottle is healthier. What’s more significant is what’s not said – you don’t see statements from any bottled water companies about the fact that it’s better than tap water.

“They’ve been bright about this,” Mr. Soroka points out. “There’s a lot of branding and packaging, but the fact is, it’s water.

“When someone pays more for a bottle, a lot of what they’re paying for is the marketing dollar that went into the brand. I don’t know of anything else like this, unless somebody starts to sell air – and don’t kid yourself; someone will.”

The lawsuit brought against Splenda by makers of Equal that centered on Splenda’s disputed advertising slogan “Made from sugar so it tastes like sugar” was settled today after the jury indicated that it had reached a verdict in the $200,000,000 sugar substitute case. The jury asked a series of questions about damages and the judge asked for a calculator. Last-minute settlement negotiations ensued. Here’s the story. One of Equal’s slogans is “Do Your Drink Justice.”

They’re having an internal discussion at Stormhoek about what the final tagline on the front label of “Couture Rosé” should be. The main take-out is that they want to communicate in a fun, funky way that this rosé wine tastes BEST with ice, expressed in as few words as possible.

You can check out the shortlist of taglines Couture Rosé on gapingvoid.com, and add your suggestions in the comments there.

There’s over 130 comments already!!!

South African brand Stormhoek this week announced the imminent release of a concept wine in the UK named Couture – a Rosé made by Stormhoek winemaker Graham Knox, in a style intended to be consumed with ice.

[more by Hugh MacLeod at gapingvoid.com]

Lawyers with Surfboards: It’s All About the Surfing Spirit.

We travel to Santa Cruz and Huntington Beach for a closer look at the two California towns embroiled in a battle over which one is “Surf City USA.” Stacey Delo reports.

According to an earlier report about this lawsuit on the Chilling Effects website, the legal debate may be moot.

Sen. Joe Simitian, a state senator from Santa Cruz has introduced a bodacious resolution in the state senate declaring that Santa Cruz is the true Surf City USA, but that any town can use the name if it wants (a necessary concession considering that cities like Surf City, N.C and Surf City, N.J. have already used the name). Simitian said he hopes the nonbinding resolution will help Santa Cruz’s efforts to thwart Huntington Beach’s trademark applications by putting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on notice that there are competing claims to Surf City USA.

However, Sen. John Campbell, a Republican who represents Huntington Beach, points out that neither Santa Cruz nor Huntington Beach qualifies to be Surf City, under the terms of the classic Jan and Dean song, as neither place has “two girls for every boy.” “I’ve done some research,” Campbell said. “Neither city has two girls for every boy, so neither should be Surf City.”

Ben and Jerry appeared on The Colbert Report last night to announce a new flavor of ice cream in honor of Stephen Colbert – Americone Dream.

Another Colbert Classic episode of naming and branding. Jerry says that Stephen should be in the Ben & Jerry’s R&D department for his creative product naming talents. Watch the video, and notice the subtle “food and sex” branding strategy.

The first annual Bay Area’s namers summit, sponsored by Igor and Eat My Words, was a smashing success. Alexandra has all the juicy gossip and lots of photos of who all was there.

After Charlize Theron, perhaps the next best thing to come from South Africa is Goats do Roam.

Speaking of roaming goats gnomes, guess who’s traveling to San Francisco to hang out with Igor and other namers at Goats Gone Wild?

From time to time we get asked what tools we find most helpful to see if a domain name might be available.

Instant Domain Search is very quick, and particularly useful for preliminary searches because it doesn’t send a request to their servers that otherwise could be intercepted and registered by domain name speculators. “A nifty, real-time platform for brand-name brainstorming,” according to Advertising Age.

Another handy site to look up potential domain names is Psychic Whois.

“Over the years, President Bush’s State of the Union address has averaged almost 5,000 words each, meaning the President has delivered over 34,000 words. Some words appear frequently while others appear only sporadically.”

Use these tools provided by the New York Times to analyze the words carefully chosen from year to year by President Bush in his State of the Union addresses.

For a graphical presentation of the words used in presidential speeches, see the US Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud website.

Cingular Is Now the New AT&T

Advertising, Re-Branding Efforts Begin, Will Continue Throughout 2007

AT&T, the standard bearer of communications excellence for more than a century, is getting younger on Monday, when the company folds the six year-old Cingular wireless name into the iconic AT&T brand.

Starting Monday, Jan. 15, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is launching a new multi-media campaign to begin transitioning the Cingular brand to AT&T in advertising and customer communications, throughout Web sites and nationwide retail stores, and on company buildings and vehicles.

“Around the world, our customers recognize the AT&T brand for meaningful innovation, a commitment to customer service, high quality and exceptional reliability,” said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., chairman and CEO of AT&T. “AT&T, BellSouth and Cingular are now one company, and going to market with our services under one brand is the right thing to do.”

Yeah, what Colbert said.

The public will remember Denny Doherty, of the legendary California pop group The Mamas and The Papas, for the great music he sang and wrote, but his friends will remember him for his great sense of humour…

Words of Love (Phillips)

Words of love, so soft and tender
Won’t win a girls heart anymore
If you love her then you must send her
Somewhere where she’s never been before
Worn out phrases and longing gazes
Won’t get you where you want to go, no!
Words of love, soft and tender
Won’t win her

You oughta know by now
You oughta know, you oughta know by now
Words of love, soft and tender
Won’t win her anymore.

So, for all you romantics with a sense of humor, here is a collection of loving words to send her where she’s never been before.

“Hi, I’m Art Buchwald, and I just died.“

In a press release issued today, The Neilsen Company announced that it will no longer be known as VNU Group B.V.

Newly branded, streamlined company; Focus on innovation and integrated services; Helping clients find clarity in complex markets.

New York and Haarlem, the Netherlands, January 18, 2007 – In a move that emphasizes its best-known brand name and underscores its commitment to create an integrated, streamlined global organization, VNU announced today it is changing its name to The Nielsen Company.

“Nielsen is one of the great names in the information-services industry,” said David L. Calhoun, chairman & chief executive officer of The Nielsen Company. “For more than 75 years, the Nielsen brand has stood for the highest standards of integrity and quality, for independence and objectivity, and for an unrelenting dedication to helping clients be more successful. The Nielsen name is a source of pride for everyone in our organization, and it is now the name under which we all will go to market.”

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek) and trade shows.

In the blogosphere, we know them as BlogPulse an automated trend discovery system for blogs. Blogs, a term that is short for weblogs, represent the fastest-growing medium of personal publishing and the newest method of individual expression and opinion on the Internet. BlogPulse applies machine-learning and natural-language processing techniques to discover trends in the highly dynamic world of blogs. BlogPulse is brought to you by Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

As one biz-tech journalist covering the business of digital media blogged it, “One legendarily crappy service now defines the whole company. Go figure.”

Anyway, the name Nielsen is definitely a better name for a unified brand than VNU Group, and wins hands-down in a Googlefight.

Today is the 65th birthday of the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali. His birthday was celebrated by the launch of a product line of health food snacks.

FLEXNEWS, Business News for the Food Industry, reported that Heavyweight boxing champion legend, Muhammad Ali, created a new snack food company in collaboration with long-time friend and renowned brand inventor Peter Arnell, and Mars Health and Nutrition Group, a division of Mars. Inc.

GOAT Food and Beverage Company, an acronym of the ‘Greatest of All Time’, is Ali’s first brand creation. The new company was created after he sold the rights to his name and image for USD 50 million in April 2006.

GOAT’s product line consists of tasty, reduced calorie snacks aimed at 16 to 24 year olds. According to a press release, the products are in the shape of a boxing glove and have some great names describing the contents of the snack packs, Rumbles, Shuffles and Jabs. The flavors include “Slammin Salsa, Thrill a Dill-A, and Fruit fight.”

Press reports indicate that Ali’s snacks will first go on sale this month at the following universities: Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, the University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State and Yale.

Arnell told the US press that the range may go on sale at 20 more colleges by the beginning of February, with new flavors rolling out every few months.

Named after “The Greatest of All Time” himself, the 150-calorie-or-less snacks are packed with calcium, protein, vitamins and minerals, and are available in nearly a dozen flavors based on the foods and meals Ali ate while training.

They’re shaped like boxing gloves, speed bags and medicine balls, and named for Ali’s signature moves and classic bouts. The “Shuffle” mixed snacks recreate a Sunday fried-chicken lunch, spicy tacos, smoked barbecued ribs or corn on the cob and cole slaw.

The “Jabs” include dill-and-yogurt or guacamole flavors.

And the “Rumble Vitamin Powered Energy Crumbles,” Ali’s version of crunchy fruit-bars, come in mango, apple, banana-nut and berry.

“This is an opportunity for me to help everyone better themselves, body and soul,” said Ali, “… to empower people to eat like champions and walk like kings.”

It’s a recipe for success. Product naming, big-name celebrity endorsement, and unlimited slogans!

Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report gave Apple a “wag of the finger” for changing its name from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc., and a “double wag of the finger” for the new iPhone, which left him flaccid with rage.

[tip of the hat to Engadget, which got 10 million page views on iPhone Day]

The most overused introduction to articles about naming — a hackneyed headline picked like a rose from a Shakespearean play about names.

Juliet.
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;–
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title:–Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Romeo.
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptiz’d;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Juliet.
What man art thou that, thus bescreen’d in night,
So stumblest on my counsel?

Romeo.
By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word.

Juliet.
My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue’s utterance, yet I know the sound;
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

Romeo.
Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.

–From Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene ii)

But what of the name of the bard himself?

Shakespeare
surname recorded from 1248, and means “a spearman.” This was a common type of Eng. surname, e.g. Shakelance (1275), Shakeshaft (1332). Shake in the sense of “to brandish or flourish (a weapon)” is attested from late O.E.

Heo scæken on heore honden speren swiðe stronge.” [Laymon, "Brut," c. 1205]

“Never a name in English nomenclature so simple or so certain in origin. It is exactly what it looks — Shakespear.” [Bardsley, "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames," 1901] Nevertheless, speculation flourishes.

Brandish — now there’s a name for a branding company!

What George W. Bush could learn from Steve Jobs,
by Blake Hounshell on Passport, a blog by the editors of Foreign Policy.

In his keynote address at MacWorld, Steve Jobs announced a change of name for Apple Computer to Apple Inc. to reflect the company’s not just a computer maker, as he announced Apple TV (formerly known by the “working name” iTV) and, perhaps most significantly, the launch of the much-anticipated Apple iPhone.

Mike Arrington, live-blogging from MacWorld in San Francisco today, is impressed, reporting on TechCrunch about the Apple iPhone here and here:

The iPhone is an impressive, and expensive, device. It comes in 4 GB and 8 GB models and costs $499 and $599, respectively. It includes a 3.5 inch touchscreen with a virtual keyboard, a 2 megapixel camera, is WIFI enabled and runs OSX. Cingular is the carrier. The desktop-like interface and user experience looks to be a killer. This might actually take the mobile email revolution another full step forward from what Blackberry has done. Standard web sites can be viewed via the Safari browser (and soon, I’m sure, Firefox). And there are a number of nice touches as well, including a motion sensor that rotates photos when you turn the phone, and voicemails displayed visually that you can click on and listen to. As we all expect from Apple, this is a seriously buttoned up device.

Just weeks ago, Apple fanatics went ballistic in the blogosphere when another technology giant launched a new line of internet phones called iPhone, widely reported by tech news websites like Silicon.com as follows:

iPhone launches – but not from Apple

Linksys phone snags oft-rumoured name

By Sylvia Carr

Published: Tuesday 19 December 2006

Linksys, a division of networking giant Cisco, has unveiled a line of voice over IP phones that will go by the name iPhone.

For many months Apple has been rumoured to be working on a hybrid mobile phone/digital music device with an identical moniker, following the same naming conventions as the company’s popular iPod music player and iMac desktop system.

Although Apple has not announced it will release such a device, Apple enthusiasts, bloggers, journalists and even analysts have been discussing the possibility of morphing the iPod into a mobile phone for some time.

Rumour sites cite many facts as evidence of the development of such a device including Apple’s application for the iPhone trademark; the iphone.org URL redirecting users to Apple’s home page; references to GPS and mobile phone technology in Apple software code; and a job posting on the company’s website advertising a role for a mobile marketing manager.

An Apple spokeswoman said the company does not comment on rumours and would not comment on whether it would engage in a trademark dispute with Linksys over ‘iPhone’ because “at the moment [the iPhone] is a non-existent product for us”.

Cisco holds the ‘iPhone’ trademark, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office.

The wireless Linksys phones run VoIP software from Skype and Yahoo! Messenger and allow users to make low-cost phone calls over the internet. Prices range from $79.99 to $369.99.

Marty Schwimmer at The Trademark Blog reports that Cisco spokeswoman Penny Bruce said the two companies had been in discussions, and it believed that Apple intends to agree to a final document and public statement concerning the trademark, perhaps as early as today.

The domain name iPhone.com, which has been registered since 1995, now redirects to a blank Web page hosted by Nuvio, a VoIP solutions provider. Expect that to change soon, too.

Hold the phone! Cisco Systems has filed a lawsuit against Apple accusing the company of infringing its iPhone trademark, the networking company said Wednesday. The suit also accuses the iPod maker used a front company to try to acquire rights to the name.

Unveiled at the 2012 Paris Motor Show, Citroën is reinventing the timeless DS, which went out of production 38 years ago.

And while it looked very unusual in 1955, public tastes appear to have finally caught up with the DS. Well get ready for the…D5.

Citroën to the Boën? That’s a freebie for France from the WL Cars category.

“Heeere’s Johnny,” Ed McMahon’s nightly introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show for over 30 years, is ranked by tvland.com the number one most memorable TV catchphrase in The 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catchphrases which premieres over five consecutive nights starting on Monday, December 11th.

The 100 Greatest TV Quotes & Catchphrases in numerical order:

100 Nip it! (Barney Fife, The Andy Griffith Show)
99 Yeah, that’s the ticket. (Jon Lovitz, Saturday Night Live)
98 I’m Larry, this is my brother Darryl … (Larry, Newhart)
97 God’ll get you for that. (Maude, Maude)
96 I love it when a plan comes together. (Hannibal, The A-Team)
95 This is the city … (Sgt. Joe Friday, Dragnet)
94 Time to make the donuts. (Dunkin’ Donuts)
93 Resistance is futile. (Picard as Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
92 Oh, my nose! (Marcia Brady, The Brady Bunch)
91 Suit up! (Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother)
90 Mom always liked you best. (Tommy Smothers, The Smothers Brothers
Comedy Hour)
89 Here it is, your moment of Zen. (Jon Stewart, The Daily Show)
88 I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV. (Vicks Formula 44)
87 Hey now! (Hank Kingsley, The Larry Sanders Show)
86 That’s hot. (Paris Hilton, The Simple Life)
85 Just one more thing … (Columbo, Columbo)
84 The truth is out there. (Fox Mulder, The X-Files)
83 Welcome to the O.C., bitch. (Luke, The O.C.)
82 You eeeediot! (Ren, Ren & Stimpy)
81 Now cut that out! (Jack Benny, The Jack Benny Program)
80 The tribe has spoken. (Jeff Probst, Survivor)
79 Holy crap! (Frank Barone, Everybody Loves Raymond)
78 Bam! (Emeril Lagasse, Emeril Live)
77 I’m Rick James, bitch! (Dave Chappelle as Rick James, Chappelle’s
Show)
76 Denny Crane. (Denny Crane, Boston Legal)
75 I know nothing! (Sgt. Schultz, Hogan’s Heroes)
74 Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! (Jan Brady, The Brady Bunch)
73 Good night, John Boy. (The Waltons)
72 Let’s be careful out there. (Sgt. Esterhaus, Hill Street Blues)
71 Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy. (Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle)
70 Schwing! (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as Wayne and Garth, Saturday
Night Live)
69 Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon? (Grey Poupon)
68 Tell me what you don’t like about yourself. (Dr. McNamara & Dr. Troy,
Nip/Tuck)
67 Up your nose with a rubber hose. (Vinnie Barbarino, Welcome Back,
Kotter)
66 Heh heh … (Beavis & Butthead, Beavis and Butthead)
65 Making whoopie! (Bob Eubanks, The Newlywed Game)
64 Who loves you, baby? (Kojak, Kojak)
63 Gee, Mrs. Cleaver … (Eddie Haskell, Leave it to Beaver)
62 I can’t believe I ate that whole thing. (Alka Seltzer)
61 Say good night, Gracie. (George Burns, The Burns & Allen Show)
60 We’ve got a really big show! (Ed Sullivan, The Ed Sullivan Show)
59 Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids! (Trix Cereal)
58 Elizabeth, I’m coming! (Fred Sanford, Sanford and Son)
57 Do you believe in miracles? (Al Michaels, 1980 Winter Olympics)
56 Don’t make me angry … (David Banner, The Incredible Hulk)
55 Hey, hey, hey! (Dwayne Nelson, What’s Happening!!)
54 Have you no sense of decency? (Joseph Welch to Sen. McCarthy)
53 Holy ______, Batman! (Robin, Batman)
52 What you see is what you get! (Geraldine, The Flip Wilson Show)
51 Never assume … (Felix Unger, The Odd Couple)
50 Tastes great! Less filling! (Miller Lite Beer)
49 You rang? (Lurch, The Addams Family)
48 Danger, Will Robinson! (Robot, Lost in Space)
47 How you doin’? (Joey Tribbiani, Friends)
46 Is that your final answer? (Regis Philbin, Who Wants to be a
Millionaire)
45 Read my lips: No new taxes! (George H.W. Bush)
44 Two thumbs up! (Siskel & Ebert / Ebert & Roeper)
43 You look mahvelous! (Billy Crystal as Fernando, Saturday Night Live)
42 I want my MTV! (MTV)
41 Good night, and good luck. (Edward R. Murrow, See It Now)
40 Stifle! (Archie Bunker, All in the Family)
39 Would you believe? (Maxwell Smart, Get Smart)
38 Sock it to me. (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In)
37 … if it weren’t for you meddling kids! (Various villains, Scooby
Doo, Where Are You?)
36 Well, isn’t that special? (Dana Carvey as The Church Lady, Saturday
Night Live)
35 Oh my God! They killed Kenny! (Stan and Kyle, South Park)
34 You’ve got spunk … (Mr. Grant, Mary Tyler Moore)
33 Homey don’t play that! (Homey the Clown, In Living Color)
32 No soup for you! (Soup Nazi, Seinfeld)
31 It keeps going and going and going … (Energizer Batteries)
30 It takes a licking … (Timex)
29 Norm! (Cheers)
28 How sweet it is! (Jackie Gleason, The Jackie Gleason Show)
27 The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. (Jim McKay, ABC’s Wide
World of Sports)
26 Smile, you’re on Candid Camera! (Candid Camera)
25 Whassup? (Budweiser)
24 De plane! De plane! (Tattoo, Fantasy Island)
23 Jane, you ignorant slut. (Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd, Saturday Night
Live)
22 Live long and prosper. (Spock, Star Trek)
21 And that’s the way it is. (Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News)
20 Come on down! (Johnny Olson, et al, The Price is Right)
19 Let’s get ready to rumble! (Michael Buffer, Various sporting events)
18 Good grief. (Charlie Brown, Peanuts Specials)
17 Hey, hey, hey! (Fat Albert, Fat Albert)
16 Yada, yada, yada … (Seinfeld)
15 Book ‘em, Danno. (Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-O)
14 Space, the final frontier … (Capt. Kirk, Star Trek)
13 We are two wild and crazy guys! (Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd,
Saturday Night Live)
12 Dynomite! (J.J., Good Times)
11 Aaay! (Fonzie, Happy Days)
10 I’m not a crook. (Richard Nixon)
9 Yabba dabba do! (Fred Flintstone, The Flintstones)
8 Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis? (Arnold Drummond, Diff’rent Strokes)
7 Where’s the beef? (Wendy’s)
6 D’oh! (Homer Simpson, The Simpsons)
5 Ask not what your country can do for you … (John F. Kennedy)
4 Baby, you’re the greatest. (Ralph Kramden, The Honeymooners)
3 You’re fired! (Donald Trump, The Apprentice)
2 One small step for man … (Neil Armstrong)
1 Here’s Johnny! (Ed McMahon, The Tonight Show)

From a script he co-adapted from the Stephen King novel [The Shining], Kubrick melds vivid performances, menacing settings, dreamlike tracking shots and shock after shock into a milestone of the macabre. In a signature role, Jack Nicholson (“Heeeere’s Johnny!“) plays Jack Torrance, who’s come to the elegant, isolated Overlook Hotel as off-season caretaker with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and son (Danny Lloyd). Torrance has never been there before — or has he? The answer lies in a ghostly time warp of madness and murder.

For a discussion of the list of the best TV quotes and memorable catch
phrases, and some missing ones, check this out.

Asked if she felt slighted that TV Land had overlooked her famous catchphrase, Catherine Tate said, “Am I bovvered?“

Wii, remember when it was called the Revolution?

According to this timely news report, a James Bond fanatic has paid an amazing tribute to his hero by officially changing his name to “James (all the film titles of the Bond movies in order) Bond”.

David Fearn, 23, is now known as James Dr No From Russia with Love Goldfinger Thunderball You Only Live Twice On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Diamonds Are Forever Live and Let Die The Man with the Golden Gun The Spy Who Loved Me Moonraker For Your Eyes Only Octopussy A View to a Kill The Living Daylights Licence to Kill Golden Eye Tomorrow Never Dies The World Is Not Enough Die Another Day Casino Royale Bond.

On a personal note, Bond…James Bond was also the title of my very first post on Wordlab on June 1, 2003, which is interesting in the context of the release of Casino Royale, based on the first book in the Bond series.

Bond … James Bond. When Ian Fleming wrote Casino Royale in 1952 at his home in Jamaica, he needed a name for his fictitious spy.

Back in the day, before Wordlab and even before the Internet, writers naturally turned to books for inspiration. In his library, Fleming spotted a book by ornithologist James Bond and decided to “borrow” the bird nerd’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.”

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

Coincidentally, Agent 007 turned out to be quite a bird watcher, himself. Check out Pussy Galore and a whole lot more at Snark Hunting where we’re treated to a list of the wonderful names of the hottest Bond Girls and the world’s most memorable villains from the imagination of Ian Fleming.

Wow, have I been banging away here for over three years?!