Is the above redundant? One often hears hucksters touting "brand name" this or that. So how is a brand different, and/or superior to, a simple name?

Here are a couple quotes from (Wikipedia ).

quote:

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A brand represents the holistic sum of all information about a product or group of products. This symbolic construct typically consists of a name, identifying mark, logo, visual images or symbols, or mental concepts which distinguishes the product or service.

A brand name comprises that part of a brand consisting of words or letters that humans can verbalize. A brand name that has acquired legal protection becomes a trademark.

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There's more, of course.

Tinman

Asa posts about a fairly mundane word, I am thinking, "brand." I look it up in Quinion, and I find this discussion just fascinating. It's not so mundane after all!

Quinion talks about brand being an example of our ability to compartmentalize our language because we can use brand negatively to refer to criminals and positively to refer to products. Is that similar with other languages?

We also say "brand new" and put brands on cattle. And here is another question - my dad always says "brand spankin' new" - what is THAT about?

CW - from Quinion:

These days, spanking in expressions like that can be said to mean something like “extremely, strikingly, or remarkably”, but really it’s no more than a flag to give extra force or emphasis to what you’re saying.

quote:

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my dad always says "brand spankin' new" - what is THAT about?

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I've always equated that expression with the doctor's (or whoever) grabbing a neonate by the hind legs and whacking its butt to make it suck in its first breath.

Yes, KHC, that makes sense to me. As does Asa's illustration. Thanks!

KHC - you are posting normal-length posts again - is everything working well?