Hoven means Excrements in Czech (in 2nd case)

So when IKEA had Hoven sale - Doprodej Hoven (Excrements sale), people were amused

https://www.lidovky.cz/byznys/ikea-narazila-s-nazvy-vyrobku-...

so much for "Every possible product name is carefully checked to avoid undesirable meanings in other languages"

A while ago I worked on a product which created a lot of media files for the user, and these files all needed to be named in a unique - yet human-pronouncable manner.

We considered using something like what3words[1], but then one bright dev came up with a way of constructing a filename using phonemes derived from the names of Austrian philosophers ..

This worked so well, for some reason - whether selection bias in the list created by the CEO for the purpose (putting that degree to good use, finally), or maybe just because Austrian philosophers all have great names for the purpose.

I confess that I do think about this a lot, as I am lost in the endless maze of Ikea stuff on my way for some meatballs.

Edit: I couldn't resist, it looks something like this:

    -- Unique filename generator based on phonemes derived from the top 10
    -- most well-known Austrian philosophers (per Pantheon HPI ranking):
    -- 1. Ludwig Wittgenstein
    -- 2. Karl Popper
    -- 3. Martin Buber
    -- 4. Paul Feyerabend
    -- 5. Josef Breuer
    -- 6. Ivan Illich
    -- 7. Otto Weininger
    -- 8. Alfred Schütz
    -- 9. Otto Neurath
    -- 10. Jean Améry
    --
    -- Phonemes / syllable units extracted from the names (approximating
    -- German/English pronunciation for pronounceability):

    local PHONEMES = {
      -- Wittgenstein
      "wit", "gen", "stein", "wig", "stein",
      -- Popper
      "pop", "per", "popr",
      -- Buber
      "bu", "ber", "bub",
      -- Feyerabend
      "fey", "er", "a", "bend", "abend",
      -- Breuer
      "breu", "er", "breuer",
      -- Illich
      "il", "lich", "ill", "ich",
      -- Weininger
      "wei", "nin", "ger", "wein",
      -- Schütz (approximated without diacritics for filename safety)
      "schu", "etz", "schutz", "shuets",
      -- Neurath
      "neu", "rath", "neur",
      -- Améry
      "a", "me", "ry", "amer", "ery"
    }

    --- Generates a unique, pronounceable filename.
    -- The random selection of phonemes is seeded from the current timestamp.
    -- @param extension (optional) file extension without the leading dot (default: "txt")
    -- @param syllable_count (optional) number of phoneme units to combine (default: 3)
    -- @return string  A filename of the form: <phoneme-combo>.<ext>
    function generate_austrian_philosopher_filename(extension, syllable_count)
      extension      = extension or "txt"
      syllable_count = syllable_count or 3

      -- Safety: ensure we have at least 2 syllables and a sensible upper bound
      if syllable_count < 2 then syllable_count = 2 end
      if syllable_count > 6 then syllable_count = 6 end

      -- Seed the PRNG from the current timestamp for this generation
      math.randomseed(os.time())

      local parts = {}
      for i = 1, syllable_count do
        local idx = math.random(1, #PHONEMES)
        parts[i] = PHONEMES[idx]
      end

      -- Combine into a readable base name (hyphenated for clarity)
      local base = table.concat(parts, "-")

      return string.format("%s.%s", base, extension)
    end

    -- Example usage:
    -- print(generate_austrian_philosopher_filename())
    -- → e.g. "stein-neu-ber.txt"
    --
    -- print(generate_austrian_philosopher_filename("log", 4))
    -- → e.g. "fey-wit-pop-rath.log"

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What3words

Not with AI that's for sure

Bedroom and living room furniture is named after Norwegian places

This comments section was one of the most entertaining (and weirdly instructive!) I ever read.

Nice, How to use that strategy for software? But first It makes sense?

no, no, no... i don't even want to know! :)

As someone named after an IKEA chair, I can testify I took no offense while assembling myself. https://manuall.co.uk/ikea-bertil-chair/

I had assumed it involved a dartboard.

I love how the chose Verde, which means value, for their long time retired kitchen furniture. They were so good that they still sell above their original retail prices now.