– Nancy Friedman, Wordworking

For much of the 20th century, the Shinola brand—introduced around 1907; first trademark filing, by the Shinola-Bixby Corporation of New Jersey, in 1929—was synonymous in the United States with shoe polish. Not even a famous World War II–era vulgarity could dim the shine on this stalwart trade name.

Corporal punishment in

– Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash

There was an article this summer in the Wall Street Journal called, “Why Startups Are Sporting Increasingly Quirky Names.” The author indicated that this trend was being driven by a “lack of short, recognizable URLs” which “prompts use of misspellings and word mash-ups” in the names of new startups.

One