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Thread: The logo - was it always a thing, or just a recent thing?

  1. #1
    Journeyman
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    The logo - was it always a thing, or just a recent thing?

    Is it only people in the emoji era who think that the Smiths logo looks like "owl eyes", or did the people in the 60s and earlier also think that? I'm just wondering that culturally was it always a thing, or is it just in the modern era and our habit of creating smileys and communicating using keyboard symbols etc. that leads us to see things in the logo, but people in the 60s were more innocent?

    In the modern era, marketing companies charge millions to create a logo, company color scheme etc. and I'm wondering whether early Smiths logo creators were just innocent and didn't realize what it looked like, or was it an inside joke and they knew all along?

  2. #2
    Master Christian's Avatar
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    Owl? I thought it was boobs?

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    The crown logo first appears on Smiths watches circa 1952. Was that an age of innocence??

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    Craftsman Recht's Avatar
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    My neighbor has nice owl eyes.
    Last edited by Recht; 27th May 2020 at 03:36.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian View Post
    Owl? I thought it was boobs?
    it's a euphemism based on a popular eatery in North America, hence the use of the quotes which implies I am not being literal. See how much dumber it is when I have to explain it?

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    Grand Master number2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grizzlymambo View Post
    it's a euphemism based on a popular eatery in North America, hence the use of the quotes which implies I am not being literal. See how much dumber it is when I have to explain it?
    Ahh ''Hooters'', only in Merica. Another US export spoiling food across the globe.
    "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

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    Grand Master PickleB's Avatar
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    And there was I thinking it resembled Donald in a bad mood.

    No wonder then that I too didn't get the inference of referring to a different avian species. Thanks for the explanation.

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    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by size11s View Post
    The crown logo first appears on Smiths watches circa 1952. Was that an age of innocence??
    I think it was an age of ostensible innocence.

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    Quote Originally Posted by number2 View Post
    Ahh ''Hooters'', only in Merica. Another US export spoiling food across the globe.
    Boobies - Hooters - owl eyes. How many 'layers' are allowed in a euphemism these days on TZ?

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    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by number2 View Post
    Ahh ''Hooters'', only in Merica. Another US export spoiling food across the globe.
    What's it got to do with food?

    It's like saying that luxury watches are very much to do with telling the time. ;-)

  11. #11
    Master Reeny's Avatar
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    The logo looks like Donald Ducks eyes & beak.
    Once seen the image can not be unseen.

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    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    What's it got to do with food?

    It's like saying that luxury watches are very much to do with telling the time. ;-)
    You probably already know this and I am misunderstanding.....Hooters is a restaurant chain in the US, if you google it and look at images you might instantly see the connection...

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    Grand Master PickleB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by size11s View Post
    You probably already know this and I am misunderstanding.....Hooters is a restaurant chain in the US, if you google it and look at images you might instantly see the connection...
    People go to Hooters for the food?

    Maybe I mix with the wrong people.

  14. #14
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by size11s View Post
    You probably already know this and I am misunderstanding.....Hooters is a restaurant chain in the US, if you google it and look at images you might instantly see the connection...
    Doh, I am well aware of that. Nevertheless, food is not its main selling point, is it! In fact, food is merely a pretext. I don't actually know if Hooters' food is good or not; the hooters at Hooters are, however, well known to be good.

    Similarly, merely telling the time is not the main selling point of luxury watches.

    Let me explain further...

    number2 said "Ahh ''Hooters'', only in Merica. Another US export spoiling food across the globe" but it seems to me that, even though Hooters is ostensibly a restaurant chain, its true raison d'être is only tangentially connected with food. Food, as I say, is the pretext.

    I then went on to compare that with the raison d'être of luxury watches which, in all honesty, is only tangentially connected with telling the time. Telling the time merely a pretext.

    See what I mean? :-)

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    Craftsman Paradiddle's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PickleB View Post
    People go to Hooters for the food?

    Maybe I mix with the wrong people.
    I did when I was in a Swiss ski town more than a decade back. No restaurant was open late except for the chicken wing shop with the skimpy-dressed ladies.

    Going back on topic, got to love the Smiths logo for the cheeky design. Who knows if it was ever intentional.

  16. #16
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PickleB View Post
    People go to Hooters for the food?

    Maybe I mix with the wrong people.
    Quite.

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    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    Doh, I am well aware of that. Nevertheless, food is not its main selling point, is it! In fact, food is merely a pretext. I don't actually know if Hooters' food is good or not; the hooters at Hooters are, however, well known to be good.

    Similarly, merely telling the time is not the main selling point of luxury watches.

    Let me explain further...

    number2 said "Ahh ''Hooters'', only in Merica. Another US export spoiling food across the globe" but it seems to me that, even though Hooters is ostensibly a restaurant chain, its true raison d'être is only tangentially connected with food. Food, as I say, is the pretext.

    I then went on to compare that with the raison d'être of luxury watches which, in all honesty, is only tangentially connected with telling the time. Telling the time merely a pretext.

    See what I mean? :-)
    With you now, didn't mean to seem patronising. Was possibly distracted by, well.....owl eyes.

  18. #18
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by size11s View Post
    With you now, didn't mean to seem patronising. Was possibly distracted by, well.....owl eyes.
    I think this is an apposite emoji....
    :-)

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    Quote Originally Posted by grizzlymambo View Post
    it's a euphemism based on a popular eatery in North America, hence the use of the quotes which implies I am not being literal. See how much dumber it is when I have to explain it?
    Maybe this is more obvious across the pond. I've eaten in Hooters a few times so I'm not unfamiliar but have never heard of boobs being referred to as owl eyes!

  20. #20
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian View Post
    Maybe this is more obvious across the pond. I've eaten in Hooters a few times so I'm not unfamiliar but have never heard of boobs being referred to as owl eyes!
    Without straying into Bear Pit material, I've always thought that some were more owl eye-ish than others.

  21. #21
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    Talking

    I was trying to avoid saying BOOBS. Dang it, now you made me say it!


    It's too bad we didn't have the internet back then so we could search what people in the 50s were talking about. Maybe someone knows someone from back then who owned one and joked about it?

  22. #22
    Journeyman lexminute's Avatar
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    Although I doubt, I really hope we get a real answer to that question.

    To be fair, there was never an age of innocence since ancient times when cavemen used to kill each other just to steal and satisfy their carnal desires with other cavewomen. With that said, I'm inclined to believe that those Smiths logo designers are mischievous, to say the least.

  23. #23
    Administrator swanbourne's Avatar
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    Designers/artists have always been naughty ;-)

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...scuit-tin.html

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    Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".

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    Quote Originally Posted by number2 View Post
    Ahh ''Hooters'', only in Merica. Another US export spoiling food across the globe.
    It always strikes me as odd that the only Hooters in the UK is in Nottingham

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by thenikjones View Post
    It always strikes me as odd that the only Hooters in the UK is in Nottingham
    Maybe the TT in the middle. (lol)

  26. #26
    Master Saxon007's Avatar
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    I've don't recall ever eating at Hooters but did drink a lot of beer there in my younger days. The owl eyes logo is on every servers' shirt.


  27. #27
    Master Christian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saxon007 View Post
    I've don't recall ever eating at Hooters but did drink a lot of beer there in my younger days. The owl eyes logo is on every servers' shirt.
    Sorry....going super off-topic....well aware of the owl on hooters branding but I've never heard the term "owl-eyes" used in common language as a euphemism for boobs. Certainly not in the UK anway...if I were to say to someone "check out the owl-eyes on her", they'd definitely look at me strange. I'm assuming it must be commonplace in the US then.

  28. #28
    Grand Master snowman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian View Post
    Sorry....going super off-topic....well aware of the owl on hooters branding but I've never heard the term "owl-eyes" used in common language as a euphemism for boobs. Certainly not in the UK anway...if I were to say to someone "check out the owl-eyes on her", they'd definitely look at me strange. I'm assuming it must be commonplace in the US then.
    Can't be that common, giving the amount of US TV and film we get.

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  29. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by grizzlymambo View Post
    Is it only people in the emoji era who think that the Smiths logo looks like "owl eyes", or did the people in the 60s and earlier also think that? I'm just wondering that culturally was it always a thing, or is it just in the modern era and our habit of creating smileys and communicating using keyboard symbols etc. that leads us to see things in the logo, but people in the 60s were more innocent?

    In the modern era, marketing companies charge millions to create a logo, company color scheme etc. and I'm wondering whether early Smiths logo creators were just innocent and didn't realize what it looked like, or was it an inside joke and they knew all along? You can sell any product if you use the proper strategy. Additionally, your chances of making sales rise if you open an internet store. Today, the landing page is important. From a large selection of available logos, select the one that best represents https://masterbundles.com/ . You may also select the fonts for the landing page. You can get everything you need to start a business right here.
    It seems to me personally that he knew all the time, not otherwise.
    Last edited by bobocat; 8th November 2022 at 02:58.

  30. #30
    Craftsman TF23's Avatar
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    Call me naive, but I don't believe for a minute that the original designer(s) had any saucy allusion in mind.

    It's a stylised crown. Not an exact reproduction of a crown, just a simple representation of one which at its small size on the wrist, viewed from a natural distance, looks right.

    Of course, if you photograph it and display it up close to countless people on the Internet - something that would have been both impossible and unimagined at the time - then another way of interpreting it will quickly emerge. Then you have the 'once seen can't be unseen' issue!

  31. #31
    Grand Master snowman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by markrlondon View Post
    I think this is an apposite emoji....
    :-)
    Reminds me of a neighbour - We refer to her as the Mitchell Brothers.

    M
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