Even nonsense can have an explanation

Airbnb's name doesn't mean what most people think it does. Can you guess?

Image: Markus Winkler

If you’ve ever wondered why so many tech companies have names that seem unrelated to their products or services, you’re not alone. Big brands like Google, eBay, Adobe, and Apple, to name a few, have quirky names that seem to be more about the sound or the catchiness of the word rather than the actual meaning of it. But even if the meaning isn’t immediately obvious, it does exist. Did you know the origins of these 12 names?

Image: Emily Bernal

Many of the go-to software programs for graphic designers, like Photoshop and Illustrator, are made by Adobe. The company’s name comes from Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California—a stream that ran behind the founder’s home—named after the type of clay found there.

Image: Mitchell Luo

Perhaps the most famous name origin story on this list, Google comes from a misspelling of _googol_—a mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name was chosen by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the company founders, to reflect their goal of building a large-scale search engine.

Image: Maxim Hopman

According to founder Steve Jobs, the company's name was inspired by his visit to an apple farm while he was on a fruitarian diet. However, he also mentioned that it was partially chosen because "Apple" comes before "Atari" alphabetically—one of his competitors at the time.

Image: appshunter.io

Originally called AuctionWeb, eBay got its name from the company’s founder, Pierre Omidyar, who owned a consulting firm called Echo Bay Technology Group. When he couldn’t register echobay.com, he shortened it to eBay.

Image: Brian McGowan

Early in the animation company’s history, one of its founders suggested the name "Pixer" because it sounded like a made-up Spanish verb for "to make pictures." However, another founder, Loren Carpenter, preferred "Radar" for its futuristic feel. So, they combined the two into a single word: Pixar.

Image: Heidi Fin

Although Spotify originated in Sweden, the word itself has no meaning in Swedish. According to the story, founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon were brainstorming names when one of the suggestions was misheard as "Spotify," and it just stuck. The rest is history.

Image: Luke Chesser

Originally launched as Nupedia, a free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia took the first part of its name from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick" or "fast." The idea was to create a fast, collaborative encyclopedia that anyone could edit.

Image: Tech Daily

The word "Hulu" has no English definition, but there is an ancient Chinese proverb that describes hulu as "the holder of precious things"—seems quite fitting for a content platform, right?

Image: Eyestetix Studio

If you’ve ever wondered what Skype means, it’s actually a straightforward combination of "sky" and "peer-to-peer." It was originally shortened to "Skyper," but when the founders discovered that name was already in use, they further trimmed it to "Skype."

Image: Filios Sazeides

While some assume that Airbnb stands for an "online bed & breakfast" concept, the true meaning of the name is much simpler. The founders, who were the first hosts, bought air mattresses for their guests and created a website called "Air Bed & Breakfast," which they later shortened to Airbnb.

Image: Brett Jordan

The forum platform for all, Reddit, has a straightforward name derived from the phrase "I read it online." However, as some have pointed out, there is also a Latin parallel to the site’s name—_reddere_—which translates to "render" and can mean "to submit for consideration or approval"—exactly what users do on the site.

Image: Oberon Copeland @veryinformed.com

If you’re building a brand from scratch, don’t name it after a word that already exists—create your own instead. That’s exactly what Etsy’s founder, Rob Kalin, did. In an interview, he explained that the name was inspired by an Italian expression that sounded like the now-famous brand name and meant "oh, yes."

ODDITIES GALORE

10 Astonishingly Weird Guinness Records You Won't Believe Are Real

Image: Domino

From the strangely amusing to the downright absurd, the Guinness World Records are home to some of the most peculiar er… achievements known to humankind. Going through this list, you might find yourself wondering, why would anyone bother to make a world record out of this?

Well, we don’t know either, but we are thankful someone has taken the time to document all these 10 wonderfully weird instances of human creativity.

Image: Annie Spratt

Donald Gorske, a man from Wisconsin, has consumed over 30,000 Big Macs in his lifetime, earning him the record for the most Big Macs consumed. His daily habit of eating two Big Macs has become a legendary feat, and he still claims to look forward to eating them every day.

Image: Andrew Wulf

Charlotte Lee, a woman from Seattle, has amassed an extraordinary collection of over 9,000 rubber ducks. Her fascination with the cheerfully yellow bath toys has led her to scour the globe in search of unique and rare additions to her impressive collection, being eventually inducted into the Guinness World Records for her ever-growing collection.

Image: Jason Yoder

Ever stared at your own navel for too long? For Graham Barker, an Australian librarian, this habit became a riveting hobby, as he has meticulously collected his belly button lint since 1984. Today, he has amassed what is recognized as the largest collection of belly button lint, and his unwavering dedication to belly button fluff has earned him a place in the annals of record-breaking oddities.

Image: Yara

While it might seem that any teenager can break this record with ease if given free reign, it would actually take some serious dedication - and a lot of stamina! - to beat Carrie Swidecki, a California teacher that set the Guinness World Record for Longest videogame marathon while playing Just Dance for an impressive 138 hours.

Image: Anita Jankovic

Yes, you heard right. There is a World Record for the Farthest Distance Squirting Milk From The Eye. Insane as it sounds, Ilker Yilmaz from Turkey holds the record for the farthest milk squirting distance from the eye. In 2004, he squirted milk to an impressive (to be fair, everything about this is quite shocking) distance of 9 feet 2 inches.

Image: Alan Hardman

Paul Slosar of Summerville, South Carolina, is the proud record holder for the longest mustache ever. Despite having fierce competition, he broke the world record with an impressive 2 feet 1 inches long whiskers. His meticulously groomed "English" styled facial hair is measured from the top of the lip, so that it cannot be confused with nearby beard hair.

Image: Yazid N

Shridhar Chillal from India holds the record for the longest fingernails on a single hand, with a combined fingernail length of an astounding 358.1 inches as of 2014. His dedication to growing his nails over decades is as impressive as their lenght, even if the end result might be a little unsettling.

Image: Point3D Commercial Imaging Ltd.

Again, you might justifiably ask: what have I just read? Well, apparently a man named Kevin Shelley, also fittingly known as "The Iron Head," has shattered 46 toilet seats with his head in just one minute in 2007, securing the world record for the most toilet seats broken by the head in a minute. Even though he probably doesn’t have much competition, it is still an impressive feat - and his pain tolerance has left audiences astonished.

Image: Damien TUPINIER

Gao Bingguo, a beekeeper from China, covered himself in a staggering 1.1 million bees, setting the record for the most bees on a human body. The "mantle" of bees weighed almost 240 pounds, and he was stung over 2,000 times during the whole ordeal, but he survived the attempt thanks to his calm demeanor and affinity with the insects.

Image: Daniel Watson

David Rush, a renowned record-breaker, balanced a lawn mower (fortunately not powered) on his chin for an incredible 30 minutes and 33 seconds, setting the record for the longest time balancing a lawn mower on the chin. He already has over 200 Guinness World Records titles, so who knows what he might come up with next?