6 ms·
They may not be able to keep that name very much longer in the current context
by beamatronic 6y ago
They may not be able to keep that name very much longer in the current context
- gambiting 6y agoWhat's the current context? I've never heard the name Dixie cup before, I guessed from the article that it's just a paper cup?
- messe 6y agoNot an american, but I'm guessing they're referring to the fact that Dixie is a nickname for the Southern US, in particular the states that were part of the Confederacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie EDIT for those on a downvoting spree: I don't mean that the above meaning of Dixie is the origin of the Dixie Cup name, just that that's what I thought the original poster was referring to.
- kshacker 6y agoMake All Google Again :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_cup#Dixie_cups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_cup#Dixie_cups As an American, Dixie cups are dixie cups :) I know, that's no answer but that was my intent, I do not think we use the term everyday and prefer to say paper cups, but if someone said "dixie cups" I would not be surprised, just like in some other places you could "xerox" a document instead of "photocopying" it.
- deelowe 6y agoIt's ok. The cups aren't named after the Confederate south. Op doesn't know what they are talking about.
- dghughes 6y agoI got a kick out of the inventor's name Lawrence Luellen the last name in particular. I guess people in the US gave up trying to spell the Welsh surname Llywelyn.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoSounds like the person whose name it was also gave up trying to use Cymraeg, otherwise they'd perhaps be CluEllen. Don't know how long off the boat they were, but often misspellings in UK surnames arise across generations in records. I guess because the family themselves are totally illiterate. Also, IIUC on immigration to USA officials would record your surname on your papers and that became _the_ spelling, so that might also explain it?
- catalogia 6y agoI'd guess they gave up on expecting other people to figure out the pronunciation. Probably about a third of the people I meet pronounce my name wrong. It's a bit tiresome, but I wager if my name was Llywelyn it would be even worse.
- beamatronic 6y agoWasn't there a Doug Llywelyn on the show, The People's Court? Any of us who saw daytime TV in the 1980's know how to pronounce it..
- catalogia 6y agoThat was something like 80 years after the invention of the dixie cup though, so I doubt that TV show would have helped anybody in America struggling with explaining the name Llywelyn to other Americans in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. The assumption that Americans anglicized their names did so by accident because they were illiterate is just silly. I'm sure that happened sometimes, but loads of people anglicized their names deliberately in an attempt to conform with local expectations. One of my great-great-grandfathers, a literate German speaking immigrant to America, changed his name from Müller to Miller. Why? Well I can't ask him, but probably because it was the thing to do. This sort of thing was very common particularly during that time period. The later means the same thing, sounds about the same, but crucially would be more familiar to anglophone Americans. And Müller is comparably easy. (To be clear, my last name is not Miller; I have an non-anglicized but reasonably common Italian surname.)
- swimfar 6y agoI'm not sure why people don't like your comment. It's the most likely answer to the previous poster's question.
- messe 6y agoYeah, I'm confused as well. I wasn't agreeing with them the original comment, just explaining what I thought they were referring to. My guess would be people not reading user names and assuming I'm the person who originally brought up the name.
- IncRnd 6y agoBecause it's not true. Dixie cups are named after a line of Dolls. Prior to that, they were called "Health Kups".
- benatkin 6y agoThe Dixie cup ruined the word Dixie for me when I was a little kid because of its use to collect urine samples, before I learned about what Dixie means in regard to the South.
- dogma1138 6y agoSolo cup and Dixie cup are pretty well known, heck I’m not American and I’m aware of both references. Dixie cups are usually referred to the smaller water cooler cups, solo cups are usually the bigger ones used for beer and soft drinks.
- losteric 6y agoDifferent Dixie, dolls not confederate states... Anyway, I wish people paid attention to the corporate practices and ownership behind brand names. Spoiler alert: Dixie cups are a subsidiary of Koch Industries (via Georgia Pacific).
- kingkawn 6y agothe dolls that the company name derived from were idyllic portrayals of slave life: https://www.dailycitizen.news/news/lifestyles/town-crier-dixie-dolls/article_cd21fafb-efc9-5c24-87c8-d4af0103c8bd.html https://www.dailycitizen.news/news/lifestyles/town-crier-dix... https://images.app.goo.gl/rbZRdCejSCa8MHuK8 https://images.app.goo.gl/rbZRdCejSCa8MHuK8 For reference here is a painting uses the same archetypes that the dolls reference: https://images.app.goo.gl/E1twLvbmKW4YHNen8 https://images.app.goo.gl/E1twLvbmKW4YHNen8 So the cups may be just some good paper cups, but really no way out of where that name comes from.
- deelowe 6y agoDixie cups aren't named after the south. They aren't even a southern company. They are named after the Dixie doll company of New York.
- swimfar 6y agoOP never said they were named after the South. Just implied that having the same name could still be a problem. Github master branches have nothing to do with slavery but they still got rid of the term to avoid any possible connections one may make.
- deelowe 6y agoFair enough. I guess some consider things like this progress, but it seems pretty silly to me. There are still plenty of females out there named Dixie. I guess they should start submitting their requests for a name change just in case, ya know, some ignorant person tries to accuse her family of racism...
- theonemind 6y agoIn the current climate, that latter scenario doesn't seem that far-fetched.
- DonHopkins 6y agoThey could pull a "Lady A" and rename them "D Cups", but that has connotations, too.
- timw4mail 6y agoI think that kind of name change would require a novelty shape of cups...
- Rebelgecko 6y agoAccording to this [1] the name Dixie Cups was intentionally chosen as a reference to the South [1]: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-unnatural-history-of-the-dixie-cup-119828457/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-unnatural-hi...
- miked85 6y agoThis probably shouldn't be downvoted. It is likely true, no matter how ridiculous.