The actress who helped invent WiFi, and unfortunate names | #48
What is the NZ badminton team called?
Mitron, India is in the midst of a deadly second wave of the virus. To combat the growing numbers, our honorable Prime Minister spoke his Mann Ki Baat and appealed to each state to organize a “Tika Utsav”. The name though was greeted with some derision, especially in Karnataka where christening something ‘tika’ usually involves making an ass of yourself.
In this week’s newsletter we look at what’s really in a name.
Modiji giving his best RSS take - Real Slim Shady
Things we Learnt this week:
There were fears that Corona beer may cease to exist post the pandemic, but so far the company has held firm. The same cannot be said about an appetite suppressant candy brand called Ayds. When the AIDS scare started, the president of the company was quoted as saying that sales had boosted, but the association of weight loss with the disease, led to this quote “We have been here for 45 years. Let the disease change its name”. The brand doesn’t exist anymore, but the disease does.
One of the finest universities in the world is in Sweden and uses a name which means “Green Area” in the native tongue. It unfortunately means another area in Hindi. The admin of the Lund University Facebook page released an impassioned appeal to not spam their page with inappropriate comments. Dickish behavior from some Indians I tell you.
New Zealand Sports teams are nicknamed the Black Caps (Cricket), All Blacks (Rugby) etc. In order to get some publicity, New Zealand Badminton association tried to nickname themselves Black Cocks. But the name was too much to swallow for the International Badminton Federation, who asked them not to use it in official parlance.
From IWTK, with love
In 1971, 3 IAF officers tried to escape from a POW camp in Rawalpindi. Their attempts were foiled thanks to an old Atlas. A Netflix-documentary worthy thread
Did you know about the amazing Hedy Lamarr - the Hollywood Actress who invented the tech behind WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth? Here’s a thread
Things we’re reading / watching / listening to:
India at the Olympics - Did you know that the Indian hockey team beat USA 24-1 in the 1932 Olympics. It would have been 24-0 had Richard Allen, India's goalkeeper not been occupied with signing autographs. For more such amazing stories on the Olympics, do check this book out.
The Great Indian Kitchen - What happens when a progressive educated woman is married into an orthodox patriarchal family? Nimisha Sajayan plays an unnamed wife to represent what every woman goes through. It's a scathing takedown of the patriarchy and a must watch.
Quiz Announcement:
IWTK is collaborating with Harper Collins for a series of quizzes - the third of which is live on instagram on Wednesday 14th April at 6PM. Head over to Harper Collins Instagram page at 6PM for a quiz on all things Olympics. You can win prizes for each question if you are higher, faster and stronger than the others.
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❤️ IWTK