Comments on Blogslot: Is Wal-Mart Now Walmart?

The media relations person at Wal-Mart Stores Inc....

2009-06-18T11:59:35.270-04:00

The media relations person at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said to retain the hyphen when writing about the corporation: Wal-Mart Foundation, Wal-Mart stockholders, Wal-Mart employees. Use Walmart elsewhere: I'm going to the Walmart discount store in Salina.

Newell Rubbermaid has a division or company or ......

2009-02-14T02:44:00.000-05:00

Newell Rubbermaid has a division or company or ... well, let's face it, it has a moneymaking concern called "Mimio," which is a whiteboard-interactivity thingy-slash-technology. The snarky folks who crafted Mimio's Web site (www.mimio.com) spell "mimio" lowercase most of the time, because the logo is lowercase "mimio." ... Folks, it's the thick, bubbly logo that's "mimio," not the company name.

The absurdity reaches new heights when the company pulls some sort of inverse-capitalization trick when referring to its products. The result is this bizarre combination of the lowercase firm name, followed by the R-ball, followed by the initial-capped product name. For example, "mimio(R) Pad."

Just ugly and bizarre.

** **

Memo to Toots: It's "Web site," not "website."

It was perfect timing to see the Wal-Mart/Walmart ...

2009-01-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

It was perfect timing to see the Wal-Mart/Walmart example, because I had recently wondered about that, too ... I thought, after years of making sure our reporters used "Wal-Mart" I thought, uh-oh, now we have to unlearn it. So that's a relief.

Crate and Barrel uses the letters a n d in all the...

2009-01-21T14:25:00.000-05:00

Crate and Barrel uses the letters a n d in all the official parts of its website; the ampersand is in its store logo.

They're at least helpful in their consistency.

Yes, I should have made it clear that I'm not ruli...

2008-12-21T21:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, I should have made it clear that I'm not ruling out case-by-case exceptions when things aren't as tidy as my examples are.

So flu shots are being offered at "Walgreen" (the ...

2008-12-20T18:46:00.000-05:00

So flu shots are being offered at "Walgreen" (the SEC-filed name)? "Walgreens" may be only a cursive logo, but c'mon.

Excellent example, Bill. Working in a marketing de...

2008-12-09T21:30:00.000-05:00

Excellent example, Bill. Working in a marketing department, I cannot count how many times in a single day this practice makes me raise my hackles.

Apparently, brand recognition now hinges on the most degenerate naming you can come up with. Whatever happened to basing it on customer service?

I linked the copyediting newsletter to my fiancee,...

2008-12-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

I linked the copyediting newsletter to my fiancee, which resulted in an invective-laden, Stylebook-perusing diatribe on how "copy editing" should be two words. She's sending them an angry email mow.

In her words, via IM:
"YOU DON'T ****ING COPYEDIT
"YOU EDIT ****ING COPY
"Feel free to quote me :V"

Careful with them Walgreens stores, too. They're o...

2008-12-04T16:21:00.000-05:00

Careful with them Walgreens stores, too. They're owned by the Walgreen Company, but the stores do not use an apostrophe.

When a company is inconsistent in its treatment, h...

2008-12-04T15:08:00.000-05:00

When a company is inconsistent in its treatment, house style should dictate. I work for an online news site, so we've decided to reflect the forward-looking change, and will refer to the company as Walmart.

Newspapers have played this game too.The daily new...

2008-12-03T14:42:00.000-05:00

Newspapers have played this game too.

The daily newspaper in Raleigh, N.C., is The News & Observer. But the company that publishes the N&O called itself The News and Observer Publishing Company for many years.

It's hard to believe such a major company can't be...

2008-12-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe such a major company can't be consistent in the use of its own name! And in a single press release... sad.

Yep. And when a company gives you that sort of mul...

2008-12-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

Yep. And when a company gives you that sort of multiple choice, you should feel even more empowered to do the right thing.

The problem with that last part about the press re...

2008-12-02T22:57:00.000-05:00

The problem with that last part about the press release is that it illustrates that even the company is inconsistent in how it treats the spelling.

In the title bar it's Wal-Mart, in the headline it's Walmart, in the first two mentions in the text it's also Walmart, and finally in the last paragraph it's Wal-mart.

Thank you. That exact question occurred to me in t...

2008-12-02T13:15:00.000-05:00

Thank you. That exact question occurred to me in the past week or so as I became aware of seeing both versions in TV ads. (And your general point always bears repeating.)

The SEC rule is a nice guideline, but at some poin...

2008-12-02T13:13:00.000-05:00

The SEC rule is a nice guideline, but at some point, common sense or common parlance has to intervene. For instance, how would you refer to the Indiana-based pharmaceutical company that manufactures Prozac? That company is on file with the SEC as Lilly Eli.