Many of you, if you were in the IC this past winter, might remember seeing Larry Baker's novel "Athens, America" in the produce section of your local employee-owned grocery. Here is Larry's take on how that came about. Of course Moby Lives always gets the skinny first, but just in case you missed it...
On a more personal note, Mr. Baker lives across the alley from me and has a nice wife and two very small dogs, as well as an ivy-free lawn after which I lust in my sinful heart.
10 comments:
What does "Hy-vee" mean, anyway? I always imagined it as a Visigoth charge: "HYYYYYYYYYYYY-VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"
Isn't it great that there are so many writers here? Every time you turn around, it seems. Anyone read his book?
As for Pete's question... from hyvee.com:
Hy-Vee was founded in 1930 by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg, who opened a small general store in Beaconsfield, IA. In 1938 they incorporated as Hyde & Vredenburg, Inc., with 15 stores and 16 stockholders. The current company name, Hy-Vee, is a contraction of our founders' names.
FYI, another Iowa favorite - I refer, of course, to Kum & Go - was named after the founders, Bill Krause and TS Gentle (K&G), albeit less directly.
http://www.kumandgo.com/history/50s60s.html
You guys are harshing my vibe with your "facts."
It's always been hard for me to believe that the name, and more specifically the spelling of the name "Kum & Go" actually made it all the way into production. I can see thinking of it, and even bringing it up in a meeting. But the idea that a bunch of people nodded soberly, agreed that is was THE BEST name for the chain, that it cleared the lawyers and PR people and money people... mind-boggling. Was everyone too embarrassed to even bring up the reason why it's objectionable?! People visit me ... they can't believe it when they see the sign.
I mean maybe -- MAYBE -- a one-off little Pop & Pop operation in the Castro. But Iowa.
Sorry to hijack your post, TLB. Next time I'm at Hy-Vee I'll look for it and buy it as penance.
The Kum & Go is indeed an astonishing phenomenon. One has to assume the name made it through because it was the '50s when it all began - the legal/PR phalanx was much less developed then, and perhaps K&G were too naive to think about the implications, although one has to wonder when they added the tagline, "Where We Go All Out." I was flabbergasted when I first saw a Kum & Go - I really couldn't believe something with that name existed.
That article on Moby Lives was hilarious, TLB. Fuckin' Barnes & Noble - didn't like the cover art? Give me a break.
However, the fact that we never notice that Kum & Go is a weird name anymore says something about the nature of the sign and the signifier. Now when I read the word "Cum" in a normal context, I think, "How could they commandeer the name of that poor gas station for such a lurid purpose?"
At any rate, I bet "Cum" wasn't a recognizable variant when "Kum&Go" came around. Pete's nifty etymology tool seems to agree.
It's true though, there's something extra disgusting about spelling Kum with a "K".
Props to Bret Anthony Johnston for working Kum & Go into a story (title story? I forget) in "Corpus Christi."
There is a cabin named "Kum-n-Go" at the YMCA camp in New Hampshire that I go to with Alastair's family. You can see on the wooden sign and on the Adirondack chairs out back where they painted over an earlier rendition, "Cum-n-Go." From my amateur forensic observation, I'd say that it was painted over circa 1990, which is consistent with Pete's research.
Seeing it painted over is almost funnier, somehow.
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