Which things have you avoided or embraced on the name alone? - eviltoast

Is it shallow, or petty, to decide based on name alone? Yeah, pretty much, but there’s probably something, a product or service or site, that the name has made you gloss right over it or jump to it ASAP.

What are some examples that spring to mind for you?

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I avoided the Instant Pot for a long time because it sounded cheap and all those functions couldn’t possibly work well.

    I was wrong. I was so wrong.

    • Yawnder@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      Shame!

      I mean same actually. I was snobbing it because I used a manual pressure cooker at the time, but now… so freaking convenient.

        • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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          1 year ago

          Let me get this straight, this machine makes yogurt but one of the ingredients required is yogurt? That’s revolutionary.

          • 0xD@infosec.pub
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            1 year ago

            You need like two tablespoons of yoghurt per liter of milk. Just cook the milk beforehand and let it cool to about 45°C. Mix in the yoghurt and put it in an oven with the light on for a few hours. Voilà!

  • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Warby Parker. Something about the name just completely frosts me. I know I should grow up and give them a chance (because Luxotica is fucking evil). But it really turns me off. “Warby Parker”…sounds like the name of some kid who’s dad owns racehorses.

    • IonAddis@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I think part of the reason I use Zenni Optical online is because Warby Parker sounds like a place that’ll offer grandma glasses for stupid-expensive prices.

      • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I tried Zenni a couple of times. Really wanted to like them. But the glasses they sent me were horrible. I do have a somewhat complex prescription, though. I suspect for basic prescriptions they are OK.

        • Bye@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Mine are basic and yes, zenni crushes it every time. I even get my phone number lazered into the ear thingies so that people can call me if I lose them.

    • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      This is hilarious because it invokes same exact feeling for me when I hear the name. It just screams “New York socialite.”

      • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Glad I’m not the only one. I am highly averse to anything that sounds like a “lifestyle brand”. Hollister and such. I’ll never understand people who wear expensive brand name t-shirts and provide free advertising for giant corporations. Ryan George made a pretty funny YouTube video about this strange phenomenon.

  • octoperson@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    I lived in a city, had occasional need for a car. A car club would have been ideal. Don’t need to spend thousands on a car upfront, don’t need to deal with maintenance, don’t need to secure parking.

    Problem? The only car club in town was called whizzgo. Like, a toddler word for urination. Written on all the cars in big colourful letters. No thanks.

  • Buck Fucket@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    When I shop on Amazon and see the obvious China companies that sell the same product but have the strangest names. Definitely avoid those products. If I see a.company only ships via fedex, I avoid doing business with that company. Dang, I know I have more just can’t think of them right now with morning brain.

    Edit: I avoid many major brands too. I belive them to be selling because of the name alone rather than having a quality product anymore. Dr Scholls is one of those,

    • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      They’re all random names consisting of 7 capital letters too DINGBAO, VXSUFEN, WEGTHOS, etc.

      • starbreaker@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        At least “dingbao” can be pronounced. Some of the others sound like names for elder gods in bad Lovecraftian fanfic.

    • AtmaJnana@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      yeah, I do still buy from Chinese companies sometimes, but only if they are smart enough to use a name that doesn’t sound like someone just used a random password generator and said “good enough”… or … whatever the Cantonese equivalent of “good enough” is, I suppose.

      • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Yes, ubermensch is a loanword in English, favored by cringy edgelords like the founder of Uber.

        • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          Do you have a source for your claim that Uber is named after “übermensch”? I couldn’t find it anywhere. Some webpages say that it’s just named after the prefix „über-“.

  • pHr34kY@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Any product name which starts with “smart” or ends with “maker”.

    Both are just e-waste OOTB.

  • MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I thought Fight Club was a boxing movie and had no interest in seeing it. I only saw it because I tried downloading Jackass on Kazaa and it ended up being Fight Club. The intro had me hooked.

  • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So easy! Whatsapp!

    Dumbest. Name. Ever.

    So hopelessly of its time, namely that moment when the word “app” was the coolest thing ever among normies because iPhone.

    And, cherry on the top, coined by geeks with language skills so poor that they thought “app” rhymes with “up”, which it absolutely does not to anyone who speaks English properly.

    What an embarrassingly dumb name.

    • Globulart@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I appreciate what you’re saying, but given the literal billions of users I’d say they absolutely nailed it.

      • AtmaJnana@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If you want to make money hand-over-fist , you can’t shy away from the “normies.” IMO, using “normies” unironically is way more cringe.

  • Wolf Link 🐺@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Avoided: Captain Laserhawk - A Blood Dragon Remix. The title is just so …edgy. I took one look at it and immediatly lost all interest.

    Spoiler: Big mistake. Once I did finally try it out, I immediatly binged all 6 episodes and was devastated that there wasn’t more. Fair warning tho, the 18+ rating is completely justified.

    Embraced: The Owl House. I had no idea what the show was even about, but the name has a nice ring to it so I got curious and gave it a try … with a similar result as mentioned above (binge it all and be devastated that there isn’t more of it)

    Semi-related tho not about the name: I refuse to shop in ANY store that has a self-checkout. And by that, I do not mean that I just refuse to use the self-checkout - I will reject the entire store for that sh*tty business decision. You either employ enough actual cashiers or you can go jump in the lake. Yes it is petty and childish, but I still feel it is justified.

      • TheInsane42@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I liked them as well, those self checkouts. Use the app from the store, scan what you need, have a total at hand, checkout and leave. That was how it went at the start.

        Now it’s:

        • start app
        • battle with the wifi, as the store requires you yo use their wifi to be able to scan, let alone check out
        • have a grocery check at checkout (and need to pack it again, as no, they just take out, not repack)
        • when buying alcohol, have an age check
        • when buying a crate of beer, wait for the help to get a sticker
        • checkout
        • get a receipt even though you’re happy to go paperless and set so in the app
        • get stopped before leaving, as the sticker needs to be put on the crate
        • leave the self checkout area
        • get checked if the crate of beer you have has the sticker (even with 1 item in the cart, the crate and the bloody sticker clearly visible)
        • leave

        When you’re just going for the crate of beer, you’re at least 5x as long busy by jumping trough all hoops at self scan and get treated as shoplifter to boot as well. I’m done with self scan. (especially with the shop closest to home, they lost a customer)

          • V0uges@jlai.lu
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            1 year ago

            Don’t know the English word for it but we bring back bottles (plastic, glass, beer cans) and beer crates for the store who then dispose of them / recycle and we get some money in exchange. Probably why he needs the sticker?

              • V0uges@jlai.lu
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                1 year ago

                Neither is it here. You’re lucky in you get 15cts for a bottle. If you’re not in need of the few extra euros, most people I know give the bottles to homeless folks so they can get a bit of cash out of it.

          • TheInsane42@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            In short: massive distrust of the customers.

            Also, loyalty cards cost money to make, so they discurrage the use of those as well. You can use handscanners from the store itself, but then you’ll have to scan the virtual card in the app to be able to start shopping, have a cumbersome scanner and no total for your groceries displayed. WHen you still need the app, why not scan with it.

            The sticker seems to be for personel after checkout to see that the crate of beer has been bought and paid for (with the receipt, although legal, not being good enough.

            Even though there is a huge distrust, still those self scan isn’t been dismantled and replaced by regular checkouts, nah, that would be to logical and you’d have to admit you made a mistake.

          • TheInsane42@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, that’s what was the situation here as well, until the grocery prizes exploded and customers started to scan a few items and taking the rest without paying. (so yeah, shoplifting made very easy) Especially this store seems to be a target, as it’s way out of the regular routes. It looks like they’re starting to notice the drawback of the idea.

    • QualifiedKitten@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Where do you get groceries? The only grocery store near me without any self checkout is Trader Joe’s, and while I usually shop there first, there’s always something I need that they don’t carry.

      • Wolf Link 🐺@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I live in Germany. There are eight different supermarkets within driving distance (less than half an hour), and two smaller markets within walking distance. Two of the big markets have self-checkouts, so I stopped shopping there altogether out of spite.

        EDIT: just to visualize the statement, this is one of the cities around these parts (~150k people). Not my actual home as I don’t post personal stuff online, but a good representation of the situation.

        Everything within the blue area is less than 20 minutes walking distance away from the blue marker in the middle, and every red marker is a supermarket. If someone dislikes a shop for any reason, it is a matter of minutes to find a different one.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      1 year ago

      The owl house was so sweet. Warms my heart! Had to show it to my SO who was a bit reluctant at first but grew to love it :)

    • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I’d love to be able to boycott places with self checkouts as I hate that shit too but I also need to eat and unless I started just eating crisps and sweets from the local newsagents I wouldn’t be able to buy any food at all around here :(

    • Fal@yiffit.net
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      1 year ago

      What the shit? Self checkouts are the best things ever in invented. It saves me from 1 awkward interaction a day.

  • IonAddis@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Does judging books by their cover count? Seems like in the same vein…

    In the 90s, I avoided Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series books because the Baen covers were awful, and at the time she hadn’t written books for any other publisher so I didn’t get introduced to her via that route. In the 2010s I finally read her books…and I was mad as hell that they’d put such ugly covers on them back in the day, because I would’ve been crazy about this series in the 90s!

    • ellabee@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      in the same vein, I’m so glad they reprinted Glen Cook’s Black Company books, because no one I tried to get interested in them would read them with the old covers. I’m not sure even I did. I certainly can’t imagine I deliberately chose to pick up a book with this cover.

        • ellabee@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          I used to! I picked up a set of Black Co at a used book store to try and loan out. finally didn’t come back after I “lost” the cover and apologized for the state of the book I was loaning. but got another convert, so a win in my book.