Everyday Canvas

All Those Name Changes

Prompt: How important is a name to you? Did you know there are foods that have been renamed so you will purchase them? Can you think of other things that have been renamed to produce the same likeability affect?
https://www.thefactsite.com/2016/08/foods-that-have-been-renamed-infographic.htm...

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Names are important as they can influence thoughts, sales, and likability. This must be why the publishing houses had the habit of changing authors' book titles. For example, Ayn Rand’s The Strike became Atlas Shrugged. Hemingway’s Fiesta became The Sun Also Rises. Jane Austen’s First Impressions became Pride and Prejudice. James Joyce’s Ulysses in Dublin became Dubliners.

About the foods in the link, yes, I knew about the Dolphinfish that turned into Mahi Mahi because about 30 years ago I refused to eat it when a local restaurant was serving under the name Dolphin steaks. After the fish became Mahi Mahi, I’ve had no problem with it. I guess I wasn’t the only one to refuse eating dolphin, thus the name change.

As I always say, the only problem I find with nature is living things eating other living things. It doesn’t matter whether it is a tomato or a cow, but the nearer an animal is to our hearts, the more we are upset about eating it.

The other food name changes I can think of are: bait sushi, Oleo margarine, coriander cilantro, rapeseed oil canola oil,

Aside from the food business, a few decades ago, a storm of short shorts for women took over the fashion industry. Short shorts weren’t called short shorts anymore; they were hot pants. I remember that because I had a red pair. Then, who can forget how the Tokyo sandals turned into flip flops!

Even some places have changed names, for whatever reason: Upper Peru to Bolivia; New Connecticut to Vermont; New Caledonia to British Columbia; Peking to Beijing; Ceylon to Sri Lanka; Burma to Myanmar; Siam to Thailand; Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City; Gold Coast to Ghana, etc.

Then we have the movie industry, too. Remember Norma Jeane Mortenson? Well, she became Marilyn Monroe. I guess alliteration worked there, too. How about Allan Stewart Konigsberg? He is Woody Allen for you. Who knows Natalie Weinstein-Bacal? Doesn’t Lauren Bacall ring a bell instead? Most us really like Margaret Mary Emily Hyra, but only as Meg Ryan.

So, there you go. Changing names is a human trait, like calling a messy house, a lived-in, cozy place, which I certainly approve and relate to very well.