On: Amazon Snowball

[buro9]

Well, that's an unfortunate name.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snowball

Reminiscent of when Microsoft called an overlay dialog a "floater" and all the South Africans and Brits in the room started laughing.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=floater (the 2nd definition)

[karlkatzke → buro9]

I really don't think there's a word that doesn't mean /something/ dirty in some part of the world.

[buro9 → karlkatzke]

They could've called it what most people think it is: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sneakernet

No commonly understood dirty version of that, and I suspect most people would've thought it a very cool name as well as appropriate.

[eru → buro9]

Might not be defensible as a trademark.

[antidamage → karlkatzke]

Yeah, but this is a bit like calling it Amazon Cumswapper. There's no other valid technical use of the word.

[grkvlt → antidamage]

Well, apart from meaning a ball of snow, such as might be thrown by children at each other for fun. Really, that's where my mind went with the word 'snowball', much like the rest of the anglophone world. Yes, there may be slang and other juvenile repurposings of the word, but in normal, everyday (well, wintertime everyday) usage snowball means exactly what the OED says it means. Not sure why anyone would imagine otherwise?

[eru → antidamage]

> There's no other valid technical use of the word.

Now there is.

[evan_ → antidamage]

My first connection was "Snowball's chance in hell".

[vacri → buro9]

Remember when the iPad came out and everyone made tampon jokes? Fast forward 5 years...