Company Name Quiz

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Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

1. What company was previously know as:

a. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing?
b. Nichon Sangio ("Japanese Industry")?
c. Nippon Kogaku ("Japanese Optical")?
d. Standard Oil of New Jersey?
e. The National Biscuit Company?
f. Toyeda?

How was Microsoft originally spelled?

2. What company is named for:

a. a Japanese mountain?
b. San Francisco, CA?
c. Santa Cruz, CA?
d. a university network?
e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
f. the Pleiades?
g. a Cornell lacrosse cap?
h. a Finnish city?
i. the Buddhist god of mercy?
j. NCSA's httpd daemon (a patchy server)
k. a yoga position

3. What company was almost named 'Moore Noyce', but that name was
already trademarked by a hotel chain? What company might now be
called Packard-Hewlett, if a coin had flipped differnetly?
(I don't know if the toss was heads or tails).

4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.trivia,rec.puzzles (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004, Jim Ward wrote:
>
> 1. What company was previously know as:
>
> a. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing?

3M (Still is known, AFAIK --- I thought "3M" was just a catchy
abbreviation, like Sunny Delight decided to trademark "Sunny D.")

> b. Nichon Sangio ("Japanese Industry")?

Sanyo? Sanrio? Dunno.

> c. Nippon Kogaku ("Japanese Optical")?
> d. Standard Oil of New Jersey?
> e. The National Biscuit Company?

Kodak?, Esso/Exxon?, Nabisco.

> f. Toyeda?

Please, not "Toyota"!

> How was Microsoft originally spelled?

With a dollar sign in place of the "s". 😉
"Micro-Soft," I think.

> 2. What company is named for:
>
> a. a Japanese mountain?

Fujifilm, and probably a couple thousand others in Japan. :)

> b. San Francisco, CA?
> c. Santa Cruz, CA?
> d. a university network?
> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?

Yahoo!

> f. the Pleiades?

Subaru.

> g. a Cornell lacrosse cap?
> h. a Finnish city?
> i. the Buddhist god of mercy?
> j. NCSA's httpd daemon (a patchy server)
> k. a yoga position
>
> 3. What company was almost named 'Moore Noyce', but that name was
> already trademarked by a hotel chain? What company might now be
> called Packard-Hewlett, if a coin had flipped differnetly?
> (I don't know if the toss was heads or tails).

Hmm... could that second one be Merrill Lynch?

> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?

The other one of Sanyo or Sanrio? :)

-Arthur
 
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"Jim Ward" <tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote in message
news:ckh3e2$1p2$1@news1.radix.net...
> 1. What company was previously know as:
>
> a. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing?

3M

> b. Nichon Sangio ("Japanese Industry")?

Nissan

> c. Nippon Kogaku ("Japanese Optical")?
> d. Standard Oil of New Jersey?

Exxon

> e. The National Biscuit Company?

Nabisco, now part of RJR Nabisco

> f. Toyeda?
>
> How was Microsoft originally spelled?

with a hyphen

>
> 2. What company is named for:
>
> a. a Japanese mountain?

Fuji

> b. San Francisco, CA?
> c. Santa Cruz, CA?

SCO

> d. a university network?

S(tanford) U(niversity) N(etwork)

> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
> f. the Pleiades?
> g. a Cornell lacrosse cap?
> h. a Finnish city?
> i. the Buddhist god of mercy?
> j. NCSA's httpd daemon (a patchy server)
> k. a yoga position

Lotus, now part of IBM

>
> 3. What company was almost named 'Moore Noyce', but that name was
> already trademarked by a hotel chain? What company might now be
> called Packard-Hewlett, if a coin had flipped differnetly?
> (I don't know if the toss was heads or tails).

Intel; H-P

>
> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?

Mitsubishi
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Jim Ward wrote:

> 1. What company was previously know as:
>
> a. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing?

3M

> b. Nichon Sangio ("Japanese Industry")?

Sanyo

> c. Nippon Kogaku ("Japanese Optical")?

Canon

> d. Standard Oil of New Jersey?

Esso/Exxon

> e. The National Biscuit Company?

Nabisco

> f. Toyeda?

Toyota

> How was Microsoft originally spelled?

$@#*&! it still is :)

> 2. What company is named for:
>
> a. a Japanese mountain?

Fuji

> b. San Francisco, CA?
> c. Santa Cruz, CA?
> d. a university network?
> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
> f. the Pleiades?
> g. a Cornell lacrosse cap?
> h. a Finnish city?

Nokia

> i. the Buddhist god of mercy?
> j. NCSA's httpd daemon (a patchy server)
> k. a yoga position

Lotus

> 3. What company was almost named 'Moore Noyce', but that name was
> already trademarked by a hotel chain? What company might now be
> called Packard-Hewlett, if a coin had flipped differnetly?
> (I don't know if the toss was heads or tails).

I'll guess Texas Instruments for the first question.

> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?

Mitsubishi

--Jeff

--
When I give food to the poor
they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have
no food, they call me a
Communist.
--Dom Helder Camara

The people who cast the votes
decide nothing. The people who
count the votes decide everything.
--Josef Stalin
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.trivia,rec.puzzles (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004, Richard Schultz wrote:
> Arthur J. O'Dwyer <ajo@nospam.andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>
> :> 2. What company is named for:
> :> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
> : Yahoo!
>
> Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that Yahoo! got its
> name as a joking reference to the nerdspeak "YA" for "Yet Another" as
> in "YACC" (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).

You know, I think I have heard that before. I have no idea whether it's
true, and in any event I wouldn't know what "HOO" could possibly stand
for. I wouldn't be surprised to find a dot-com startup named "Yawp,"
though.

Nevertheless, the Yahoos were definitely the Gulliver's Travels brutes
referred to in the question. I suspect that both Swift's Yahoos and the
web portal Yahoo! were named after the exclamation "Yahoo!", rather than
the one after the other as Jim suggested, but whatever. It's the intended
answer. 😉

-Arthur
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

In article <ckh3e2$1p2$1@news1.radix.net>, tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com says...
> 1. What company was previously know as:
>
> a. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing?

3M

> b. Nichon Sangio ("Japanese Industry")?

Sony?

> c. Nippon Kogaku ("Japanese Optical")?
> d. Standard Oil of New Jersey?

Esso

> e. The National Biscuit Company?

Nabisco

> f. Toyeda?

Toyota?

>
> How was Microsoft originally spelled?
>
> 2. What company is named for:
>
> a. a Japanese mountain?

Fuji

> b. San Francisco, CA?
> c. Santa Cruz, CA?
> d. a university network?
> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?

Yahoo!

> f. the Pleiades?
> g. a Cornell lacrosse cap?
> h. a Finnish city?

Nokia?

> i. the Buddhist god of mercy?
> j. NCSA's httpd daemon (a patchy server)

Thanks for the clue, Apache.

> k. a yoga position
>
> 3. What company was almost named 'Moore Noyce', but that name was
> already trademarked by a hotel chain? What company might now be
> called Packard-Hewlett, if a coin had flipped differnetly?
> (I don't know if the toss was heads or tails).

I have no idea.

> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?

Mitsubishi

--
Go to http://MarcDashevsky.com to send me e-mail.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.trivia,rec.puzzles (More info?)

In rec.games.trivia Arthur J. O'Dwyer <ajo@nospam.andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

:> 2. What company is named for:

:> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
:
: Yahoo!

Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that Yahoo! got its
name as a joking reference to the nerdspeak "YA" for "Yet Another" as
in "YACC" (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).

-----
Richard Schultz schultr@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"Contrariwise," continued Tweedledee, "if it was so, it might be, and
if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

In article <ckh3e2$1p2$1@news1.radix.net>,
Jim Ward <tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote:

>2. What company is named for:

> b. San Francisco, CA?

Cisco

> d. a university network?

Sun

> f. the Pleiades?

Subaru

> g. a Cornell lacrosse cap?

Red Hat

> i. the Buddhist god of mercy?

Canon

> k. a yoga position

Lotus

Robert Israel israel@math.ubc.ca
Department of Mathematics http://www.math.ubc.ca/~israel
University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

| Steve Grant wrote:
|> Jim Ward wrote:
|> 1. What company was previously know as:

----[----snipped-----]----

|> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?

| Mitsubishi

Well, a story I heard that the word "Mitsubishi" actually means
"three pebbles", but "three diamonds" looks and sounds much
cooler for a car. Although, there are a LOT of references citing
that it means "three diamonds". Perhaps someone with a good
English-Japenese dictionary could shed some light here. ____ Gerard S.
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

"gerard46" <gerard46@rrt.net> wrote:
> Steve Grant wrote:
>> Jim Ward wrote:
>>> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?

>> Mitsubishi

> Well, a story I heard that the word "Mitsubishi" actually means
> "three pebbles", but "three diamonds" looks and sounds much
> cooler for a car.

Not only that, but the logo IS three diamonds. Or did that come
along more recently?

> Although, there are a LOT of references citing that it means
> "three diamonds".

It's been a long time since I took Japanese, but I remember going
"duh" when I figured out that mitsubishi was literally "three
diamonds".

> Perhaps someone with a good English-Japenese dictionary could
> shed some light here.

I have a little dictionary -- it gives a phonetization for
"diamond", but gives "koishi" (literally "small stone" IIRC)
for pebble. Babel Fish says the same thing. I never got
around to buying a big dictionary, so I'm stumped outside of
this.
--
//*================================================================++
|| Russ Perry Jr 2175 S Tonne Dr #114 Arlington Hts IL 60005 ||
|| 847-952-9729 slapdash@rcn.com [NEW!] VIDEOGAME COLLECTOR! ||
++================================================================*//
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.trivia,rec.puzzles (More info?)

Wasn't it Arthur J. O'Dwyer who wrote:
>
>On Tue, 12 Oct 2004, Richard Schultz wrote:
>> Arthur J. O'Dwyer <ajo@nospam.andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>>
>> :> 2. What company is named for:
>> :> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
>> : Yahoo!
>>
>> Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that Yahoo! got its
>> name as a joking reference to the nerdspeak "YA" for "Yet Another" as
>> in "YACC" (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).
>
> You know, I think I have heard that before. I have no idea whether it's
>true, and in any event I wouldn't know what "HOO" could possibly stand
>for. I wouldn't be surprised to find a dot-com startup named "Yawp,"
>though.

From the Yahoo FAQ <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/pr/faq.html>:

Yahoo! is an acronym for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.

--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.trivia,rec.puzzles (More info?)

Arthur J. O'Dwyer wrote:

> On Tue, 12 Oct 2004, Richard Schultz wrote:
>> Arthur J. O'Dwyer <ajo@nospam.andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>>
>> :> 2. What company is named for:
>> :> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
>> : Yahoo!
>>
>> Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that Yahoo! got its
>> name as a joking reference to the nerdspeak "YA" for "Yet Another" as
>> in "YACC" (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).
>
> You know, I think I have heard that before. I have no idea whether
> it's true, and in any event I wouldn't know what "HOO" could possibly
> stand for. I wouldn't be surprised to find a dot-com startup named
> "Yawp," though.

Yet Another Hierarchically Officious Oracle (there's another, too, but I
forget what), but . . .

> Nevertheless, the Yahoos were definitely the Gulliver's Travels
> brutes referred to in the question. I suspect that both Swift's
> Yahoos and the web portal Yahoo! were named after the exclamation
> "Yahoo!", rather than the one after the other as Jim suggested, but
> whatever. It's the intended
> answer. 😉

.. . . it's almost certainly a backcronym, coined by the founders because
all computer projects have to have an acronym, even ones with a nice
simple name like Yahoo :)

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
"If I knew I'd live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."
- Mickey Mantle
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.trivia,rec.puzzles (More info?)

In rec.games.trivia Keith Willoughby <keith@flat222.org> wrote:

: . . . it's almost certainly a backcronym, coined by the founders because
: all computer projects have to have an acronym, even ones with a nice
: simple name like Yahoo :)

As I heard the story, they decided that whatever name they used would
*start* with the letters "YA"; you're probably right that they came up with
the words only after deciding on "Yahoo."

-----
Richard Schultz schultr@mail.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Opinions expressed are mine alone, and not those of Bar-Ilan University
-----
"Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell bad."
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

"gerard46" <gerard46@rtt.net> wrote in message
news:99Wad.307$Iq6.12913@news7.onvoy.net...
> | Steve Grant wrote:
> |> Jim Ward wrote:
> |> 1. What company was previously know as:
>
> ----[----snipped-----]----
>
> |> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?
>
> | Mitsubishi
>
> Well, a story I heard that the word "Mitsubishi" actually means
> "three pebbles", but "three diamonds" looks and sounds much
> cooler for a car. Although, there are a LOT of references citing
> that it means "three diamonds". Perhaps someone with a good
> English-Japenese dictionary could shed some light here. ____ Gerard S.
>
>
Many languages have words with multiple meanings. Its quite possible that
both are correct literal translations.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.trivia,rec.puzzles (More info?)

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 16:09:51 -0400 (EDT), "Arthur J. O'Dwyer"
<ajo@nospam.andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

>
>On Tue, 12 Oct 2004, Richard Schultz wrote:
>> Arthur J. O'Dwyer <ajo@nospam.andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>>
>> :> 2. What company is named for:
>> :> e. a race of brutes in "Gulliver's Travels"?
>> : Yahoo!
>>
>> Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that Yahoo! got its
>> name as a joking reference to the nerdspeak "YA" for "Yet Another" as
>> in "YACC" (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).
>
> You know, I think I have heard that before. I have no idea whether it's
>true, and in any event I wouldn't know what "HOO" could possibly stand
>for. I wouldn't be surprised to find a dot-com startup named "Yawp,"
>though.
>
> Nevertheless, the Yahoos were definitely the Gulliver's Travels brutes
>referred to in the question. I suspect that both Swift's Yahoos and the
>web portal Yahoo! were named after the exclamation "Yahoo!", rather than
>the one after the other as Jim suggested, but whatever. It's the intended
>answer. 😉
>
>-Arthur

The pronunciation id different. The Gulliver critters were
YAhoos but the exclamation is yaHOO.

The web portal is definately for the Gulliver critters,
whether they admit it or not.

George
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Jim Ward <tomcatpolka@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote in message news:<ckh3e2$1p2$1@news1.radix.net>...

> 3. What company was almost named 'Moore Noyce', but that name was
> already trademarked by a hotel chain?


Intel
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Somebody claiming to be "gerard46" <gerard46@rtt.net> wrote in
news:99Wad.307$Iq6.12913@news7.onvoy.net:

>|> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?
>
>| Mitsubishi
>
> Well, a story I heard that the word "Mitsubishi" actually means
> "three pebbles", but "three diamonds" looks and sounds much
> cooler for a car. Although, there are a LOT of references citing
> that it means "three diamonds".

Mitsubishi themselves had an ad campaign in the late 80s here in the US
with the tag line, "Mitusbishi. The name means 'three diamonds'."

--
Ted <fedya at bestweb dot net>
Barney: Hey, Homer, you're late for English.
Homer: Who needs English? I'm never going to England.
<http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F12.html>
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

"Ted S." <fedya@bestweb.spam> writes:
>
> Mitsubishi themselves had an ad campaign in the late 80s here in the US
> with the tag line, "Mitusbishi. The name means 'three diamonds'."

I'm not doubting that they did, I just don't understand
how it can be so. Granted I don't know much japanese,
but I can count in it and the only number I see in
Mitusbishi is 4 (shi), unless the rest of the text means
1 diamond less than, then I think some marketers just
liked the arrangement of 3 diamonds instead of 4 :).

As always any opinions I may have written above are mine and mine alone.

Dave.
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

In article <ckj6l9$lu8$1@srv38.cas.org>, David K. Lewis <dkl24@cas.org> wrote:
>"Ted S." <fedya@bestweb.spam> writes:
>>
>> Mitsubishi themselves had an ad campaign in the late 80s here in the US
>> with the tag line, "Mitusbishi. The name means 'three diamonds'."
>
>I'm not doubting that they did, I just don't understand
>how it can be so. Granted I don't know much japanese,
>but I can count in it and the only number I see in
>Mitusbishi is 4 (shi), unless the rest of the text means
>1 diamond less than, then I think some marketers just
>liked the arrangement of 3 diamonds instead of 4 :).

"Mitsu" is also "three", a version that doesn't need a "counter",
which is a concept that (from what little I know about it) is
thankfully absent in English.
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

David wrote:
) "Ted S." <fedya@bestweb.spam> writes:
)>
)> Mitsubishi themselves had an ad campaign in the late 80s here in the US
)> with the tag line, "Mitusbishi. The name means 'three diamonds'."
)
) I'm not doubting that they did, I just don't understand
) how it can be so. Granted I don't know much japanese,
) but I can count in it and the only number I see in
) Mitusbishi is 4 (shi), unless the rest of the text means
) 1 diamond less than, then I think some marketers just
) liked the arrangement of 3 diamonds instead of 4 :).
)
) As always any opinions I may have written above are mine and mine alone.

I don't know much about japanese, but I do know they have many different
words for counting, depending on what it is exactly that is being counted.


SaSW, Willem
--
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for any of the statements
made in the above text. For all I know I might be
drugged or something..
No I'm not paranoid. You all think I'm paranoid, don't you !
#EOT
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Russ Perry Jr <slapdash@rcn.com> writes:
> I have a little dictionary -- it gives a phonetization for
> "diamond", but gives "koishi" (literally "small stone" IIRC)
> for pebble. Babel Fish says the same thing. I never got
> around to buying a big dictionary, so I'm stumped outside of
> this.

Some research lead to it meaning actaully waterchestnut, thence
diamond, due to the diamond-shaped leaves of the waterchestnut.
However, that was purely internet research, and not worth the
phosphor it was projected on.

Phil
--
They no longer do my traditional winks tournament lunch - liver and bacon.
It's just what you need during a winks tournament lunchtime to replace lost
.... liver. -- Anthony Horton, 2004/08/27 at the Cambridge 'Long Vac.'
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

dkl24@cas.org (David K. Lewis) writes:

> "Ted S." <fedya@bestweb.spam> writes:
> >
> > Mitsubishi themselves had an ad campaign in the late 80s here in the US
> > with the tag line, "Mitusbishi. The name means 'three diamonds'."
>
> I'm not doubting that they did, I just don't understand
> how it can be so. Granted I don't know much japanese,
> but I can count in it and the only number I see in
> Mitusbishi is 4 (shi), unless the rest of the text means

Various sources, none of which I'd bet hard cash on, say roughly:

While 'san' is commonly used for 3 in Japanese, it's not always
been the case. 'Mitsu' is the older Japanese word for 3, and
'san' is a borrowing from Chinese.

Phil
--
They no longer do my traditional winks tournament lunch - liver and bacon.
It's just what you need during a winks tournament lunchtime to replace lost
.... liver. -- Anthony Horton, 2004/08/27 at the Cambridge 'Long Vac.'
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

russotto@grace.speakeasy.net (Matthew Russotto) writes:

> In article <ckj6l9$lu8$1@srv38.cas.org>, David K. Lewis <dkl24@cas.org> wrote:
> >"Ted S." <fedya@bestweb.spam> writes:
> >>
> >> Mitsubishi themselves had an ad campaign in the late 80s here in the US
> >> with the tag line, "Mitusbishi. The name means 'three diamonds'."
> >
> >I'm not doubting that they did, I just don't understand
> >how it can be so. Granted I don't know much japanese,
> >but I can count in it and the only number I see in
> >Mitusbishi is 4 (shi), unless the rest of the text means
> >1 diamond less than, then I think some marketers just
> >liked the arrangement of 3 diamonds instead of 4 :).
>
> "Mitsu" is also "three", a version that doesn't need a "counter",
> which is a concept that (from what little I know about it) is
> thankfully absent in English.

Not directly, but it's not an entirely alien concept:

3 flat-thing-counter paper <=> 3 sheets of paper
not 3 papers

Phil
--
They no longer do my traditional winks tournament lunch - liver and bacon.
It's just what you need during a winks tournament lunchtime to replace lost
.... liver. -- Anthony Horton, 2004/08/27 at the Cambridge 'Long Vac.'
 
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On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:22:03 -0400 (EDT), "Arthur J. O'Dwyer"
<ajo@nospam.andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

>> 4. What company name means "three diamonds" in Japanese?
>
> The other one of Sanyo or Sanrio? :)

Wrong "three".

Cheers - Ian
 
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