Ikea Product Names
 

What is the deal with Ikea product names?

Are they real words or just "Swedish-sounding-gibberish?"

I epecially like the chair called "poang." It's like the sound a boner would make in a cartoon. :lol:

But seriously... are these real swedish words?

I dunno, but the name sure makes a lame piece of furniture more interesting. There's a lot in a name I suppose.

http://www-lexikon.nada.kth.se/skolverket/swe-eng.shtml

Swedish entry word
poäng [po'eng:] poängen poänger noun
(avslutande) komisk höjdpunkt i en historia

English translation
point, punch line

Isn't there some kind of "try to sound like english" thing going on here,

Like a Lamp having the Swedish name "Laampe" and so on?

It was certainly proper before IKEA became a multinational, and then when they expanded into North America, they kept it for Marketing / Simplicity sakes.

I think it is because people will pay more for a Laampe instead of a fucking lamp.

I just take the cataloge and point to the pictures to the salesperson. They reply "Oh, sorry, we are all out of Fluukenstiekies, but there are some discontinued red Daeimmplingonl over in isle 1657..."

"Is that thing the same kind of lamp as this thing?"

"Yes"

"Okay, you pretentious snob. Stop pretending you are swedish."

Heh, yeah IKEA have a way of coming up with some pretty weirdo names for their products. I do believe though that all (Atleast most) of them are real swedish words. Not that I'm going to spend time going through their catalog to check.

That sound more like dutch words don't you think? :)

I like to think to myself that someone in charge of stocking shelves knows swedish and makes up disturbing sentences with the product names.

Start putting some creative words into the dictionary and see if you can find a product that exists int he IKEA Catalog .. ya know someone had fun.

http://www.margaret-marks.com/Transb...es/000302.html

A blog that links to a German article about the IKEA product names...

My favourite was a light fixture with the name FARTYG probably pronounced FAR TIG but as my son's name starts with a G we started calling him Farty G...

Many a bad pun has been based on IKEA product names, yes indeed. They are as far as I've seen, real Swedish words or names.

Consider it a small payback for all the North American cultural imperialism. ;)

my favorite is the bed "gutvik" in german that sounds like "good fuck"
an appropriate name for a bed.

I don't really care what they call it, I love Ikea.

So using Mal's link I did a few searches on Ikea things and while most (about 80%) of the product names are Swedish words, almost none of them describe the product they represent.

EX:

Jules is a chair -- translation: Christmas
Frosta is a stool -- translation: verb; to defrost
Slutlig is a candle snuffer-- translation: ultimate
Raket is a picture frame -- translation: rocket

Well now I know. Thanks Mal :icare:

I can't stand the stuff. I'm not going to buy another piece of furniture that I have to assemble, after fighting crowds and parking for the honour of shopping there in the first place, and then really finding out that Ikea IS the Swedish word for 'Out of Stock' !!!!


uhuh. I don't care how much delivery costs, It's Boers or Leons for me from now on. (why do their dresser drawers always cave in???)

One of the worst things one might do is to go to IKEA during the weekend. Do that and you can count on standing in line for hours.

Personally I like IKEA, they're cheap, make pretty decent furniture and their customer service has always been nice to talk to. Of course, more than once you've sat there with their instructions swearing "Where the hell does this piece go, and why aren't there enough screws?"