Unusual names for cutlery

[Douglas G. Wilson]

These appear to be arbitrary words taken from a dictionary. As Jesse
Sheidlower pointed out, they are not chosen for any advertising purpose and
their meanings are of no consequence AFAICT.

I can see two advantages to having a unique arbitrary word attached to each
catalogue item: (1) to enable briefer messages when ordering the items; (2)
to provide redundancy and avoid errors (if the code-word accompanied clear
text).

Nowadays we'd have something like "Item # XY-00067-J" available as the code
for a certain product. However, back in the day a single word would have
been advantageous, particularly when sent by telegraph: (1) the telegraph
operator would be less likely to make an error; (2) if the telegraph
charges were by word, the code word would be cheaper than an alphanumeric
gobbledegook (e.g., "XY-00067-J" would be billed as eight words maybe).

Just a guess.

-- Doug Wilson