Ever wondered why Jays Potato Chips doesn't have an apostrophe? If so, read on!
As you may know, Jays Potato Chips, a Chicago business, is being bought out, and the company is leaving Chicago. Therefore, there was an article about the company in the Chicago Tribune. About 10 years ago a reporter walked through the plant and ran into the founder, Leonard Japp, Sr. He found out why the name of the company has been Jays, with no apostrophe. Originally the company was named, "Mrs. Japp's Potato Chips"...after Leonard's wife. However, after Pearl Harbor that didn't seem commercially viable so it was changed to "Jays," with no possessive because there is no "Jay."
Originally posted by Kalleh: Ever wondered why Jays Potato Chips doesn't have an apostrophe?
Ever wonder why Tim Hortons doesn't have an apostrophe? Who's Tim Horton? you ask. O.K. Here's the background on Tim and then we'll get to the missing apostrophe. Tim Horton was a Canadian professional NHL hockey player (a great player and a gentleman, by the way) in the days when those guys weren't millionaires. He founded a coffee and donut business in Hamilton, Ontario in 1971. Did O.K. In 1974, he was killed in an auto accident. His widow sold her share of the business for a mere million bucks to Tim's business partner named Joyce. Joyce made Tim Horton's into a phenomenally successful enterprise. How successful? Today it has over 2700 outlets in Canada, and about 350 in the U.S. (Apparently, Americans don't like coffee . In Canada it's bigger than McDonald's. (They kept their apostrophe, no?) It has over 60% of the coffee business up here, verses 7% for Starbucks. During the expansion years, they moved into the Quebec market. Quebec has very strong language laws. It is illegal to post a business sign in Quebec unless the French words and letters are more prominent than the English. There are actually government agents (colloquially called "the language police") who go around examining business signs for signs of non-compliance. In that milieu, Tim Horton's had no choice but to become Tim Hortons. But, for some indecipherable reason, management decided to drop the apostrophe all across Canada at the same time. Go figure. If any of you Americans happen to drive past one of the rare outlets in the U.S.A., let me know if the apostrophe survived there.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Duncan Howell,
Great story! I bet there are a lot of apostrophe stories out there. Anyone interested in writing a book?
quote:
Apparently, Americans don't like coffee
Oh yes we do, but Starbucks has taken over. I don't even like their coffee that much, and I refuse to order a "Venti" sized coffee, but then we've discussed that before, as has Language Log and Dave Barry.
. In Canada it's bigger than McDonald's. (They kept their apostrophe, no?) It has over 60% of the coffee business up here, verses 7% for Starbucks. During the expansion years, they moved into the Quebec market. Quebec has very strong language laws. It is illegal to post a business sign in Quebec unless the French words and letters are more prominent than the English. There are actually government agents (colloquially called "the language police") who go around examining business signs for signs of non-compliance. In that milieu, Tim Horton's had no choice but to become Tim Hortons. But, for some indecipherable reason, management decided to drop the apostrophe all across Canada at the same time. Go figure. If any of you Americans happen to drive past one of the rare outlets in the U.S.A., let me know if the apostrophe survived there.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Duncan Howell, 