Business names that sound strange to others?

[Kitty Hawk]

I am an American who has lived in Germany nearly 21 years now, and the Siemens thing had never occurred to me.  Possibly because here it is pronounced with Z sound, like Zee-mens.

[Thipu1]

We have friends who visit Egypt for a few months every year.  They've come back with some howlers.

There are 'pitz' crackers and a fake scotch called 'Johnie Darkie Blue'.

One year, they brought me a nice jacket made by 'Saggy Sportswear'.  Of course, there's always 'Concrete Menswear'.

[Irishkitty]

Schindlers Lifts - an elevator company in Australia.  Why, just why?!

I noticed one of those in Dublin a couple of years ago, I had to stop and stare at it every.single.time.

[Thipu1]

Another one that caused me problems the first time I visited London was the 'Army and Navy Stores'.
There, it was a big, beautiful department store.  I learned that it was originally intended to provide goods at reduced prices for military families.

In the US, an army/navy store is usually a small place where you can pick up surplus camo, pea jackets and flashlights. 

[RingTailedLemur]

Another one that caused me problems the first time I visited London was the 'Army and Navy Stores'.
There, it was a big, beautiful department store.  I learned that it was originally intended to provide goods at reduced prices for military families.

In the US, an army/navy store is usually a small place where you can pick up surplus camo, pea jackets and flashlights.

Brits call that "army surplus".

[Thipu1]

Thank you, RingTailedLemur. 

When we visited Inverness we found a wonderful sweater, (pardon, jumper) in such a store. 

[marcel]

Schindlers Lifts - an elevator company in Australia.  Why, just why?!

I assume you mean to ask why Spielberg named a movie to sound just like a mayor company

I am dealing with them on an almost daily basis (Way too many  problems wit our elevators and escalators) and I never realized that the movies name is almost the same as their company name.

[*new*mommyagain36]

Get-Go - a gas station but it's logo makes me feel a little unwelcome "get in get gas get going" or something like that.

Wa-wa - gas/mart kind of place

Rude Trucking.  Although I haven't seen their trucks in awhile but we would always wonder what the customer service was like.  "Whadda yah want?!  !@#$%&*." etc.

[Black Delphinium]

There's a Kane trucking company, which isn't odd, but their slogan "Kane is Able!" always gets to me.

[Midnight Kitty]

There's a Kane trucking company, which isn't odd, but their slogan "Kane is Able!" always gets to me.

Since I'm in Hawaii, when I see "Kane," I hear "Ka-ney" which means "man" in Hawaiian.  Usually meant in a macho way, so a "Kane trucking" would imply some big, burly guys loading and driving trucks around.  That's the guys I want to hire!

Then I saw their slogan. 

[Marisol]

abc package store

If it doesn't sell packages, why is it called a package store?  That drove me crazy as a kid when my parents would stop for some liquor.

[Bethczar]

abc package store

If it doesn't sell packages, why is it called a package store?  That drove me crazy as a kid when my parents would stop for some liquor.

What does it sell?

[jedikaiti]

Booze.

Package, in this case, means 'package liquor'. No idea why it's not just called a liquor store, though.

[hobish]

The Body Shop sells girly stuff in the US, too.

Personally, I love my husband's business name: Noneyo Bidness.

We live in Hawaii.  Most people try to pronounce it "No neh yo" as if it were an Asian or Hawaiian name.  Nope.  Closer to ebonics.

DH loves it when some bureaucrat asks him, "What's the name of your company?"
DH:  Noneyo Bidness
Bureaucrat:  Sir, I need the name of the business.
DH:  The name is "Noneyo Bidness."

Sometimes it goes round a couple times before they ask for the spelling and realize that DH is a rascal.

Who's on first?

What's on second.

Right. The Body Shop^TM is a store name that plays on a body shop. The Body Shop^TM is where you get good stuff for your body; a body shop is where you get done stuff for your car's body.

[baglady]

I have only seen one of these, parked in the yard of a trucking company: a semitrailer advertising Platonic Transport (motto: We don't fool around!)

Schindler's Lifts sounds as if it were trying to play off "Schindler's List." The way pr0n movie titles are often plays on the titles of real movies (e.g., On Golden Bl0nde). Which would make me do a double take as I consider "Schindler's List" far too serious a movie to make silly puns with its name. But if the lift company came first, it's just an unfortunate coincidence.

I never saw a Wawa until I moved to southern New Jersey for a year. All I could think of was Barbara Walters' "Saturday Night Live" alter ego, Baba Wawa.