TGIF… and other such…

The above acronym reflects a cultural implant by a pretty good team of marketers. Those of a younger generation, who only see it as an expression signifying the end of a work week… 

…don’t even remember that it was a “slogan” created to celebrate the virtues of a particular fast food chain restaurant as the perfect place to celebrate the end of a long week of work; when the acceptance of this little saying as the symbol of the beginning of a Hurrah!! for the start of the weekend became so encompassing, the food link was pretty much forgotten.

How many words and sayings we commonly use in our day to day oral meanderings, without realizing their origin or reason(s) for being. Back in the early 80’s, when Xerox Corporation was a fast emerging force due to its newly minted copying system, the company had a phalange like group of kamikaze attorneys (is that sentence a redundancy?) whose primary job was to listen in to all possible means of mass communication and, every time someone uttered the dreaded “Please … would you Xerox this for me?” these attorneys would jump on their ready white (well… OK, a little dappled) steeds and come thundering like a god of revenge to demand (this word they did understand!!) that the poor, unenlightened soul refrain from ever bringing forth such utterances…  “You don’t XEROX… you PHOTOCOPY”… was their war cry. It seems that when a brand name is incorporated into the popular language because of every day miss-utilization, the coveted brand name ownership is lost.

Each one name conjures up a carefully created image...

 After all, if a corporation spends zillions of USD’s in order to create a brand name and a logo, they do not want to lose it to those whose only collaboration has been to pay them for being able to use the bloody thing!!  Right?  (Huh??)  This particular legal generation of bloodhounds had the established precedent (how’s that for legalese??) of several brands which had been lost to public use over the years, having become simple, every day words. “Jeep”, which was originally an acronym for a light use army vehicle during WWII, was actually registered as a brand name by Willys, the then manufacturing company; however, the little guy proved to be so popular, that everything 4x4 became a “jeep” in the returning soldiers' mind and vocabulary, so… it no longer was legally accepted as a private brand.

The tough little guy that became an icon

The word “Frigidaire” was also a brand name foisted upon one of the early refrigerators sold in the market (Kelvin was the owner of the brand, if my foggy, but sometimes functioning memory serves me). It did not have a lot of competition then and soon thereafter, most people on their way to buy a refrigerator would simply say they were going to purchase a “Frigidaire”, regardless of the actual brand which was the object of their attention. So… not too long after, most any machine that cooled its contents, regardless of brand, was actually referred to as a … well, you know.  Even at my home in Cuba, we had a “Frigidaire” which wasn't ... well… a “Frigidaire”.  If we actually went back in time, there are many samples of these kind of public losses of identity so I guess Xerox had a proper worry which kept several well fed attorneys in their payroll.

1966 was a very good year... indeed!

GTO, one of the more famous brand items in recent US automobile history (Pontiac GTO’s… the one and only) actually was a brand born, in reverse, from a name given a specific type of car with an engine originally over 2,500 cc and then with more than 3,000 cc’s.  Actually the original term was considered to be the embodiment of the European racing image that GM wanted to give its then top-of-the-line-for-younger-people-car; a term which meant “Gran Turismo Omologato” which is Italian (well, you knew that!) for Grand Touring Homologated (in motorsports, homologation is a process a vehicle has to undergo in order to be approved to race in a given class --- you didn’t know I knew so much, huh?... well, OK, I didn’t… thanks Wikipedia…). The three letters became extremely recognizable and famous over here; but almost no one really knew or cared what they meant, except that they stood for a car that went like the proverbial bat out of hell. It became a brand so strong that, even when other brands used the moniker GTO in one of their models (including Ferrari, one of the original and shall we say, extremely well qualified cars for the use of this identification) no one even thought of them being so if they were not a Pontiac.

So, what’s in a name? Before you laugh off this age old question, think again. Our very own names, according to those whose specialty is gazing at the stars in order to see the future of us little people, can and will influence the life of any one person.  I would not be so quick to accept this, if it weren’t for some ridiculous names I have seen foisted on poor, unsuspecting babies. These can surely affect any one’s future, regardless of social standing or sitting; I think even my pet, if I were to give it one of these names, would become the laughing stock of all pets in the neighborhood. Then again, like in Johnny Cash’s famous song “A Boy Named Sue”, a ridiculous name could possibly be the source of a gigantic amount of self assurance and inner strength... But, please, don’t try this at home… leave it to professionals.

So what is this all about? Not much, just a way to spend a couple of hours of a Friday afternoon and, as usual, put on this heretofore blank space something which could be read and, possibly, enjoyed by you; not all entries can be a piece of history or an outpouring of one’s own ideas or opinions… sometimes a little “light” offering is, much like an aperitif, something which I hope will keep you coming back for more...

Have a grand and beautiful week end!!

Remember… someone out there is carrying on a daily fight against a potentially devastating illness… your thoughts and prayers are always welcome…

Be Well… Be Back!!