How Was "Benihana" Named?

Benihana is the name of a chain of Japanese restaurants known for the flavor of its food as much as the showmanship with which it is prepared in front of the customers.

Benihana has its roots in Japan in the years immediately following World War II. Yunosuke Aoki, a samurai descendant and entertainer, along with his wife, Katsu, opened a small coffee shop in Tokyo. The shop was named "Benihana" ("red flower" in japanese) after a red safflower that grew in the streets. Run by the Aokis and their four sons, this coffee shop eventually became a full service restaurant.

The eldest son, Hiroaki (later Americanized as Rocky) took after his father's appreciation for the theatrical, including the notion of combining Japanese food with entertainment. Rocky opened his first restaurant in 1964 in New York on West 56th Street with room enough for just four tables.

The interior of the restaurant was styled after a Japanese farmhouse. The food was prepared before the customers at their tables in the teppanyaki style (Teppan meaning "steel grill" and yaki meaning "broiled"). Partly due to the restaurant's proximity to Broadway, Aoki believed showmanship and entertainment at Benihana was of great importance. The chefs would not only cook the food with flair, but also make sure all the different ingredients were served simultaneously. With emphasis placed on high customer contact service, the restaurant can be recognized as a service innovation, while Aoki's grouping of eight people per table ensured a profitable cycle time.

Technorati Tags: Benihana, Steak, Japan, Japanese, Food, Restaurant, New York City, Steak House, Sushi, Eat, Eating, Samurai, Teppan, Teppanyaki, Entertainment, Hibachi, trivia, history, fun, name, origin, how, why, learn, education

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posted by Staff @ 12:15 PM  

How Were "Glove Compartments" Named?

A glove compartment (or glovebox in British English) is a compartment built into the dashboard, located over the passenger's footwell in an automobile, often used for miscellaneous storage. The name derives from the original purpose of the compartment, to store gloves. Gloves were originally considered necessary equipment in early cars, many without a hard top, to prevent the cooling effect of fast moving air from freeze numbing the drivers hands.

A glove compartment is sometimes referred to as a "jockey box," especially in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 9:14 AM  

How Was "Absolut Vodka" Named?

Absolut Vodka is a Swedish brand of vodka, owned by V&S Group, and produced at their facilities near Åhus, Skåne in southern Sweden.

The name "Absolut" was introduced in 1879 by the entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith. Smith introduced fractional distillation that produces liquor without fusel oil in Sweden. The name "Absolut Renat Brännvin" (Totally Distillated Vodka) was introduced by Smith to market his much improved product. Smith challenged the city of Stockholm's liquor marketing monopoly with his superior vodka. It was sold at a lower price than the monopoly's product, just outside the city border. Smith even offered free boat rides to the distillery and "Renat Brännvin" made Smith a fortune. In 1917 the alcohol industry in Sweden was monopolized by the Swedish government. Vodka was then sold nationwide under the name "Absolut Renat Brännvin". The name of the by then rather unfashionable brand was cropped to "Renat Brännvin" in the mid 1970's. In 1979 the old name Absolut was picked up when the upper-price range Absolut Vodka was introduced. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 9:01 AM  

How Was "Merrill-Lynch" Named?

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., through its subsidiaries and affiliates, primarily, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith Incorporated, provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related products and services on a global basis. The firm's global headquarters are located in New York City and it is one of the most recognizable names in financial services. The company occupies the entire 34 stories of the Four World Financial Center building in Manhattan.

The company was founded on January 6, 1914, when Charles E. Merrill & Co. opened for business at 7 Wall Street in New York City. A few months later, Merrill's friend, Edmund C. Lynch, joined him and in 1915 the name was officially changed to Merrill Lynch & Co. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 8:46 AM  

How Were "Pez Candies" Named?

PEZ is the shortened name of PEZ Candy Inc. It is also the name of two of its product categories, namely:

Pressed, dry candies, straight-edged and shaped like 3/8-inch- (1-cm-) long bricks,

Pocket mechanical dispensers for such candy. (holds 12 pieces of pez candy)

The name PEZ was derived from the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first PEZ flavor. PEZ was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-upper-case spelling of PEZ echoes the trademark's style of type on packaging and the dispensers themselves, drawn in perspective and looking as if the letters were built out of brick-like PEZ candies. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 8:25 AM  

How Was "The Soup Nazi" Named?

Yev Kasem (a.k.a. the Soup Nazi) was a fictional character portrayed by Larry Thomas in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The Soup Nazi was a stone-faced immigrant chef with a thick Stalin-esque moustache, who was well-known throughout the city for his delicious soups. He demanded that all customers in his restaurant follow his meticulous (and seemingly arbitrary) soup-ordering instructions to the letter, lest they be refused service by his insistent avowal, "No soup for you!" His character was based on Al Yeganeh, an actual New York City soup vendor who runs Soup Kitchen International in midtown Manhattan. The store is open only part of the year. In the summer, his customers are greeted with a sign indicating he has gone to "Argentina for the winter".

According to an Associated Press article published 2005 April 29, Yeganeh plans to open a chain of soup stores under the name "The Original Soup Man" across the country. The first franchise opened in Princeton, New Jersey on October 24, 2005. His company, Soup Kitchen International, plans to open 1000 outlets nationwide. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 3:37 PM  

How Were "Hilton Hotels" Named?

Hilton is the flagship brand of Hilton Hotels Corporation and is based in Beverly Hills, California. It is one of the world's largest chains of hotels.

Since its founding in 1919 by Conrad Hilton, Hilton Hotels has grown to become the America's first coast-to-coast hotel chain, placing special emphasis on business travel, but owning and operating a number of resorts and leisure-oriented hotels as well. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 3:00 PM  

How Was Space Shuttle "Atlantis" Named?

Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-104) is one of the space shuttle fleet belonging to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She was the fourth operational shuttle built and after February 2003 is one of only three (along with Discovery and Endeavour) fully operational shuttles remaining in the fleet, following the destructions of Challenger (1986) and Columbia (2003).

Atlantis was named in honor of the first United States oceanographic research vessel, a two-masted sailing ship operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1930 to 1966, as well as the mythical island of Atlantis. (Wikipedia)

UPDATE: The Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully blasted off around 11:10am from Florida on September 9, 2006.

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posted by Staff @ 2:26 PM  

How Was "Fender Guitars" Named?

The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, initially named the Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, was started by Leo Fender in 1946, and is one of the most widely recognised manufacturers of electric guitars, electric basses and amplifiers. Fender is particularly important because of its role in bringing solid body electric guitars to the masses. Fender offered the first mass-produced solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar, the Telecaster (originally named the 'Broadcaster', 'Esquire' is a single pickup version); the first mass-produced electric bass, the Precision Bass (or P-Bass); and the enormously popular Stratocaster guitar (or 'Strat' for short). (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 8:58 AM  

How Was "Beef Jerky" Named?

"Beef Jerky" is meat which has been cut into strips with the fat trimmed off, marinated in a spiced, salty or sweet liquid for a desired flavor, then dried with low heat (usually under 160°F or 70°C). The result is a strip of a salty, semi-sweet snack which can be stored for long periods of time without refrigeration. Similar products include pemmican and biltong The word "jerky" itself comes from the Quechua term Charqui, which means "dried meat". (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 8:46 AM  

How Was "STP" Named?

STP is a brand name and trade name for the automotive additives and performance division of the Clorox Corporation.

Founded in 1953 in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the company’s name, STP, was derived from “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”. The company entered into the marketplace with one product, STP Oil Treatment.

For a long time STP was the sponsor of stock-car drivers Richard Petty and John Andretti, as well as having been a sponsor of Indy racecar driver Mario Andretti, John's uncle.

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posted by Staff @ 4:31 PM  

How Was "Oreo" Named?

Oreo is a trademark for a popular type of sandwich cookie manufactured by the Nabisco Corporation, introduced in 1912.

Some have suggested the name "Oreo" came about because it was a nice and melodic use of sounds that were easy to pronounce. Others claim the name is based on the French word for gold, a color used on early packaged designs. Another theory is that the name comes from the Greek word for "nice" or "hill" (oreo), as previously mentioned. Some people believe that the creators took the re from the word cream and that the two o's represent the two cookies on both the bottom and the top (o-re-o).

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posted by Staff @ 3:32 PM  

How Was "White Castle" Named?

White Castle is the oldest American hamburger fast food restaurant chain. It is known for square burgers, commonly referred to as "sliders" (or "slyders"), which were priced at 5 cents until the 1940s, and remained at ten cents for years thereafter while growing smaller. For several years, when the original burgers sold for 5 cents, White Castle periodically ran promotional ads in local newspapers which contained coupons offering 5 burgers for 10 cents, takeout only. The typical White Castle restaurant architecture features a white exterior with a crenelated tower at one corner to resemble a medieval castle. The Chicago Water Tower, which stands on Michigan Avenue, is said to be the model for the classic building. The company was founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, when entrepreneur Billy Ingram partnered with cook Walter Anderson, who had developed an efficient way of cooking hamburgers quickly. Anderson's original method used freshly ground beef and fresh onions.

White Castle was an early example of successful fast food marketing. While the White Castle company is based on four earlier hamburger stands owned by Anderson, the current name was chosen by Ingram in 1921 to distinguish it from other, less salubrious fast food outlets that many consumers were reluctant to visit (White Castle's own facilities, prior to 1921, were considered shoddy by some). "White" was chosen for its connotations of purity, while the "Castle" element was selected as it suggested stability and permanence. This factor was essential in the store's early successes, so much so that several chains (some of which still exist, such as Krystal) imitated the formula.

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posted by Staff @ 2:10 PM  

How Was "Fruit of the Loom" Named?

Fruit of the Loom is an American company which manufactures clothing, particularly underwear. The Fruit of the Loom brand dates back to 1851 in Rhode Island when Robert Knight, a textile mill owner, visited his friend, Rufus Skeel. Mr. Skeel owned a small shop in Providence, Rhode Island that sold cloth from Mr. Knight's mill. Mr. Skeel's daughter painted images of fruit and applied them to the bolts of cloth. The ones with the fruit emblems proved most popular. Mr. Knight thought the labels would be the perfect symbol for his trade name, Fruit of the Loom.

In 1871, just one year after the first trademark laws were passed by Congress, Mr. Knight received patent number 418 for the brand, Fruit of the Loom. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 10:01 AM  

How Was "Polyester" Named?

Polyester is a category of polymers, or, more specifically condensation polymers, which contain the ester functional group in their main chain. Usually, polyester refers to cloth woven from polyester fiber. Polyester clothing is generally considered to have a "less natural" feeling to it compared to natural fibers. Polyester fibers are often spun together with fibers of cotton, producing a cloth with some of the better properties of each.

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posted by Staff @ 8:51 AM  

How Was "Häagen-Dazs" Named?

Häagen-Dazs is an American brand of ice cream, established by Reuben Mattus in The Bronx, New York in 1961. It has also become a specialty ice cream chain store which sells its own brand of ice cream at locations around the world. Häagen-Dazs produces ice cream, ice cream bars, sorbet, and frozen yogurt.

Contrary to common belief, the name is not European; it is simply two made-up words meant to look European to American eyes. This is known in the marketing industry as foreign branding. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 8:42 AM  

How Was "Jägermeister" Named?

Jägermeister is German for master of the hunt in the sense of "expert" or "committed" hunter. It's a strong (70-proof; 35%) liqueur flavored with herbs (similar to Danish stomach bitters such as Gammel Dansk, the Hungarian Unicum, or Czech liqueur Becherovka). The exact list of the 56 herbs used is kept secret. Although licorice is a major component of its flavor, it is not as predominant in Jägermeister as it is in true licorice-flavored liqueurs. Contrary to urban legends, Jägermeister contains neither deer blood nor opium. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 8:07 AM  

How Was "Pluto" Named?

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the solar system, orbiting 29 - 49 AU from the Sun. The name Pluto was first suggested by Venetia Phair (née Burney), at the time an eleven-year-old girl from Oxford, England. Venetia, who was interested in Classical mythology as well as astronomy, suggested the name, the Roman equivalent of Hades, in a conversation to her grandfather Falconer Madan, a former librarian of Oxford University's Bodleian Library. Madan passed the suggestion to Professor Herbert Hall Turner, Turner then cabled the suggestion to colleagues in America. After favourable consideration which was almost unanimous, the name Pluto was officially adopted and an announcement made by Slipher on March 5, 1930.

The name retained for the object is that of the Roman god Pluto, and it is also intended to evoke the initials of the astronomer Percival Lowell. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 12:49 PM  

How Was The "Xbox" Named?

The Microsoft Xbox is a sixth generation era video game console first released on November 15, 2001 in North America, then released on February 22, 2002 in Japan, and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. The Xbox was Microsoft's first independent venture into the video game console arena, after having developed the operating system and development tools for the MSX, and having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Sega Dreamcast console.

According to Dean Takahashi's book, "Opening the Xbox", the Xbox was originally going to be called the DirectXbox, to show the extensive use of DirectX within the console's technology. However, "Xbox" was the final name decided by marketing, but the console still retains some hints towards DirectX, most notably the "X"-shaped logo, which DirectX is famous for. (Wikipedia)

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posted by Staff @ 12:43 PM