Something Toad

This subject has come up enough recently to warrant an entry. It started with a website devoted to the topic and then got personal when my friend Nick's blog (that's right, I'm calling you out) fell victim. What am I talking about? Unintended URL meanings.

If you're unfamiliar, here's how it works. Take a website name. As an example, Nick's advertising-centric blog is called, "Something to Ad." Now reduce that name to a web URL, a presentation that removes all spaces, "somethingtoad.blogspot.com." Suddenly new and hilarious statements spring from formerly prosaic titles. "Something to Ad" becomes "Something Toad."*

This entry, like a few before it, doesn't fall into the positive category as such, I know. But it makes me and many other people laugh without being dark or mean-spirited, so I count that as positive. A few more examples?

A scrapbooking site called "One Hour Scrap" becomes "One Hours Crap." The womens heart disease charity "Go Red for Women" becomes "Gored for Women." A photo rating service called "Rate a Ten" becomes "Rat Eaten." A personal favorite, this online betting service "Odds Exchange" is transformed into something wholly different as "Odd Sex Change". And this specialty pen company, "Pen Island" becomes...well, I'll let you figure that one out.

Some of these are so funny. They're another odd artifact of modern life. The website I referred to earlier is slurls.com. Here's a Top 100 poorly named websites. Some are a bit off-color...prepare yourself. Enjoy.

http://www.slurls.com/forum/100-website-naming-disasters-t176.html



*Nick eventually changed the URL for Something to Ad from "somethingtoad.blogspot.com" to "somethingad.blogspot.com" which we all determined also has an unintended meaning, though not nearly as funny as Something Toad. "Something Ad" becomes "Some Thin Gad", a gad, Nick discovered, being a pointed pole tool for loosening rocks.