Remember when Microsoft made Yahoo! a ridiculously generous buy-out offer and Yahoo! declined the offer? (Doh!) Now we get word that Yahoo! is going to use Microsoft’s Bing to power their searches. Um… Can anything less than a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo! be far behind?

We here at Catchword always like to be forward thinkers. And, with the inevitable merging of these two search powerhouses, we thought we’d put on our thinking caps and get a jump start on the new company name.

(For reference, if you haven’t already seen the futuristic prediction of the merger of Google and Amazon to form GoogleZon, you can check it out here.)

Now, let the Microsoft + Yahoo merger naming begin…

A few of our own ideas include:

YaBing!
Microhoo!
Ying
Yacrosoft!
YM

Let’s hear your name ideas. Can you beat ours? Yeah, you think so? Okay, prove it!!

Reader submissions:
MooHoo (from Pat)
MY!crosoft – to preserve the real-life aspect ratio between the newly-weds (from Stefan)
BooHoo (from Burt)
BingWho? (from Burt)
YadaBadaBing (from Burt)
But It’s Not Google Yet (from Burt)
Microosoft (a subtle but Borg-like assimilation of the Yahoo! brand — from Patrick)
Ya!Soft! (versus No!Hard! — from Patrick)
BillYang! (two founders, one vision, culturally and linguistically inoffensive — from Patrick)
Microsoft (from Rob)
SoftY! (from Rob)
Bill, Jerry, & David’s Guide to the World Wide Web (from Rob)
MyCahRoSoFT (from Rob)

Tags: Bing, merger, merger naming, Microsoft, naming fun, Yahoo!
Posted in Brand Naming, Branding, Company Naming, Fun stuff, In-the-News, Language use, Name Launch | 6 Comments

The folks here at Catchword have been demonstrating varied levels of concern over the Swine Flu pandemic. I think the following quote from a friend of mine, sums up my position on the matter:

“So I’m not in the least bit worried about this Swine Flu (aka H1N1). The question is does that make me crazy, or the last remaining sane person on earth

I vote for “last remaining sane person…”

That being said, I’ve been having some fun with the pandemic’s name. Apparently the pork industry has been squealing about the name of this flu. “It’s gutting our swine sales,” they claim.

Then I got word from a friend that the Swine flu is henceforth known as Pig Pox. Another friend chimed in, that in fact it was now to be called Bacon Lung. That got me thinking… This is proper level of attention to give the pandemic. Here are some of our new names. What are your suggestions?

Pig Pox
• Bacon Lung
• Carnitas-itis
• Hamhocks
• Pigachoo (like Pikachu from Pokemon and “achoo”)
• Heiney (H1N1 in L33T sounds like heiney aka butt. – Gives a whole new meaning to the prhase “I’m so sick I feel like ass!”

So, bring it on. What names will you bestow upon this deadly piggy virus?

And, just for fun, here’s cute little diddy we heard in the Twitterverse yesterday:

“It was once said that a black man would be president “when pigs fly”. Indeed 100 days into Obama’s presidency: Airborne Piggies (aka Swine flu).”

UPDATE: Friends from all across the blogosphere, Twitterverse, and Facebooklandia are adding their two cents:

Tu-pork-ulosis
Hog snot fever
Little piggy sniffles
When pigs die
Oinkfluenza
Treyfitis
Influenza Manteca
The aporkalypse
The pink plague
Mu shu flu
Trough-cough
Porkinson’s disease
Swill kill
Hamthrax
Snoutbreak (via the Daily Show)
Multiple Porkulosis (when it mutates, it becomes)
Monoporkulosis (when teenagers have it)

Tags: H1N1, health naming, naming fun, swine flu, virus naming
Posted in Fun stuff, Language use | 5 Comments