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The title here confuses me. I don't see anywhere in the article that they make the case that it happened by chance. Seems like it was designed by a small team w
by 542458 11y ago
The title here confuses me. I don't see anywhere in the article that they make the case that it happened by chance. Seems like it was designed by a small team who were trying to design a distinctive bottle - The complete opposite of chance!
- jmilloy 11y agoAgreed, though I guess they happened to see an illustration of a cocoa pod when looking up coca.
- MBCook 11y agoYeah, I think the 'chance' is that coca and cocoa are so similar in English.
- probablyfiction 11y agoBut because of HN rules, we can't change it to something more appropriate and less clickbait-y
- SilasX 11y agoSure they can: >Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- dang 11y agoPrecisely. Thank you! Title changed to be less misleading. If someone suggests a better title, we can change it again.
- notahacker 11y agoI presume it's with reference to the coca/cocoa confusion and the probably apocryphal story that they were inspired by seeing the word next to "coca" in the dictionary. But yes, in a world where major brands have names which happen to be the founders' surname, slogans thought up at the last minute to fill space and logos designed by freelancers for pennies this was a corporation that thought the mere shape of the packaging was so integral to their future success they held a competition to design “a bottle so distinct that you would recognize if by feel in the dark or lying broken on the ground.” It's not accidental that they achieved that.