Anatomy of a Name
Swiffer or Ready Mop?
Ready Mop announces, “I’m a mop.”
Swiffer responds, “I’m a new floor-cleaning technology.”
Even among their few fans, mops lack glamour. Swiffer rejects mop-hood in favor of a more exciting identity.
The name uses uniqueness to point to its inventive technology and peppy sounds to suggest that it cleans quicker than anything that came before. At the same time, it expresses allegiance to traditional mop values by sounding similar to the term sweeper.
Swiffer‘s first syllable brings to mind “swift”. How?
The consonants s and f make the sound of something brushing—and rushing—across the floor.
The short vowel i, the lightest-sounding vowel in the language, makes the motion even quicker.
The suffix -er helps link the name to “swifter” and to sweeping tools, like dusters, cleaners, and scrubbers.
Back to Ready Mop. What mop isn’t ready?