A required greengrocer's apostrophe?

Question

In restaurants and cafes here, you sometimes find half-and-half presented in small containers, preserved by ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization. Recently, I came across such a product from Land O'Lakes that was named "MINI-MOO'S."
See
http://www.cvcoffee.com/pd land.cfm
for a picture of the packages. Since "MINI-MOO'S" is a registered trademark, it seems to me that writing it as "MINI-MOO'S" or "Mini-Moo's" would be showing respect for that trademark, but that spelling it "Mini Moos," as the owners of that site do, or "Mini-Moos," as other sites do, would not. So, as my subject line suggests, this appears to be a case of a required greengrocer's apostrophe, just as "Tastee" bread is a required nonstandard spelling.

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]In restaurants and cafes here, you sometimes find half-and-half presented in small containers, preserved by ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization. Recently, ... suggests, this appears to be a case of a required greengrocer's apostrophe, just as "Tastee" bread is a required nonstandardspelling.[/nq]
And it's equally interesting that above you put "Land O'Lakes", when cvcoffee write "Land o Lakes". And that in the small print cvcoffee do have "Mini Moo's", while repeating "Land o Lakes". And, again, just above the shopping cart and wish list buttons, they finally get "Land O Lakes" right, but this time they're back to "Mini Moos".

But then I went to LOL's own site, and found that their official name does indeed seem to have "O'" with the expected apostrophe, but with the space: "Land O' Lakes, but they seem quite content to drop the apostrophe as often as not as they do on labels.

I confess I went to the site in the hope of finding that it was really a possessive, as in "Mini-Moo's half-and-half"; I'm not the only person to have had the idea:
http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoughts comments/A86 0 3 0 C/

One supplier, though cuts through the problem by calling the stuff "Mini Moo" with no s at all. But then again, that firm prints "tea's" with an apostrophe:
http://www.mowi.com/prodorder.htm

Mike.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]In restaurants and cafes here, you sometimes find half-and-half presented in small containers, preserved by ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization. Recently, ... this appears to be a case of a required greengrocer's apostrophe, just as "Tastee" bread is a required nonstandard spelling.[/nq]
Except that it seems to have slipped your mind that trademark laws have nothing to do with requiring everyone who mentions the product to spell it the same way. They're designed to stop other businesses from manufacturing similar products with names that are "confusingly similar" to theirs.
Basically, nobody cares, trademark-wise, how you spell it, unless you are manufacturing labels to put on another coffee-creamer product. Then they care bigtime, and not just over whether there's an apostrophe or not.

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]In restaurants and cafes here, you sometimes find half-and-half presented ... greengrocer's apostrophe, justas "Tastee" bread is a required nonstandard spelling.[/nq]
[nq:1]Except that it seems to have slipped your mind that trademark lawshave nothing to do with requiring everyone who mentions ... coffee-creamer product.Then they care bigtime, and not just over whether there's an apostrophe or not. Best Donna Richoux[/nq]
I did not have in mind legal matters when I said "respect the trademark," and I probably should have expressed my opinion differently. I had more in mind something like the fact that "ain't" is a standard spelling of the term even if the term itself is nonstandard. Similarly, "Tastee" is a standard spelling even if the spelling itself is nonstandard and yes, I know that sounds oxymoronic, but let me explain. I think that linguist George P. Krapp usefully described standard usage as that form of speech which does not call attention to itself.
Looking at it that way, spelling "Biro" as "biro" when it is being used in a generic fashion, or "Coke" as "coke" when it is being used as a general term for carbonated soft drinks, would cause little comment(1) (except from the lawyers of Biro and Coke, perhaps). But spelling "ain't" as "aint" or "Taystee bread" as "Tasty bread" would make the reader pause, seeing something suspect in those spellings.

This doesn't mean that "Mini-Moos" causes the average educated person to pause, because the average educated person is unfamiliar with the product. But among those who are familiar with the product, as I now am, I expect the usual opinion among them would be that the spelling "Mini-Moos" instead of "Mini-Moo's" is objectionable. That this is actually the case, however that is, that a survey would show this to be the caes is a prediction on my part, not something I can be sure is right. If it turned out that two-thirds or three-fourths of such people prefer the spelling "Mini-Moos," I would consider my prediction falsified, and would conclude that the greengrocer's apostrophe of "Mini-Moo's" is not required.
Note:
(1) In the case of "coke," that would cause little comment among those who use the term generically. I expect readers unfamiliar with that usage would likely make the mistake that it was "Coca-Cola" brand cola which was being referred to, and thus among them, "coke" would be considered an error.

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

I'm looking at a coupon for butter (sixty measly cents off two packages, what *is* the world coming to?), and the banner behind the kneeling squaw has the 'O' without the apostrophe, as usual. The text on the front of the coupon has the name as "LAND O LAKES", no apostrophe, separating space; the text on the back gives the company name as "Land O'Lakes, Inc.", FWIW.

Aaron Davies
Opinions expressed are solely those of a random number generator. "I don't know if it's real or not but it is a myth." -Jami JoAnne of alt.folklore.urban, showing her grasp on reality.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'm looking at a coupon for butter (sixty measly cents off two packages, what *is* the world coming to?), and ... O LAKES", no apostrophe, separating space; the text on the back gives the company name as "Land O'Lakes, Inc.", FWIW.[/nq]
Land O'Lakes butter is made by a company that started out in Minnesota as the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association. The name change was made in 1926.
There is a town in Florida named Land O'Lakes that is located just north of Tampa. St Leo's College is in Land O'Lakes, but none of my uncles or great-uncles attended it or built any structures there. I don't think any of them were ever in Minnesota.

Tony Cooper
Orlando FL

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Land "Mini-Moos," as[/nq]
.
[nq:1]This doesn't mean that "Mini-Moos" causes the average educated person to pause, because the average educated person is unfamiliar with ... now am, I expect the usual opinion among them would be that the spelling "Mini-Moos" instead of "Mini-Moo's" is objectionable.[/nq]
Plus, among those who are familiar with Wisconsin, it would provoke suspicions of the employment of cow substitutes.

Usenet · Answer

I'll say.
DC

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Land "Mini-Moos," as[/nq]
And people might pronounce it Mini Moose.
What's with all these different types of milk anyway? (Another question for the forthcoming 'confusing things encountered in the USA'.
DC

A required greengrocer's apostrophe?

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