Kryponite and garlic--(Why the hair-salon name "Krytonnite"?)

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:01 AM -0500 1/5/10, Seán Fitzpatrick wrote:
>According to an article from the (Hamden, CT?)

New Haven Register, of which Hamden is an "inner suburb".

>Register
>(http://snurl.com/tywsz  - Kryptonnite Beauty Salon - Dominican Stylists)
>about the Kryptonnite hair salon:
>"A 'DO DONE RIGHT:  BLACK AND LATINO WOMEN ARE FLOCKING TO DOMINICAN SALONS"

Thankfully, there hasn't been enough flocking to affect the traffic pattern.

>"Women from the Caribbean know to look for the salon with the sign:
>Dominican.
>These salons may as well advertise:  "We can handle any type of hair.'  They
>are the bronco busters of the hair world, the follicle tamers with no
>rivals."
>
>So, maybe the name is an allusion to their ability to tame "difficult" hair,
>and the non-standard spelling is just because they were never 10-year-old
>white American geeks (NTTIAWWT).  Or maybe the proprietor thought
>"Kryptonnite" looked cool, or it's her daughter's name.  Maybe it's just me,
>but the double-n version does look more feminine to me.

Yes, I think I agree with that.

LH

>The image on the
>home page is somewhere between mediaeval and Sapphic.
>
>Sean Fitzpatrick
>Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?
>I blame Global Warming.
>http://www.logomachon.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Cohen, Gerald Leonard [mailto:gcohen at MST.EDU]
>Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 12:10 PM
>Subject: Re: Kryponite and garlic--(Why the hair-salon name "Krytonnite"?)
>
>Here's a guess as to the origin of the hair-salon name "Kryptonnite."
>Kryptonnite is the only substance in the universe that can make Superman
>lose all his strength.  I don't remember if it knocks him out or merely
>renders him totally weak. Meanwhile, the 2 n's in "Kryptonnite" permit us to
>divide the word into "Krypton" plus "nite" (alternate spelling of "night").
>
>  So the hair-salon name humorously implies that the women who emerge from a
>hair-styling session there will be so feministically powerful that they can
>make even Superman go weak in the knees. They are therefore  sort of
>promised a Krypton night, i.e., an evening out in which they will can have a
>devastating effect on whichever men they may be interacting with.
>
>Gerald Cohen
>P.S. Btw, Superman (as a Superbaby) arrived on earth in a spaceship sent by
>his parents from the planet Krypton shortly before it blew up.
>
>________________________________
>
>>At 1/2/2010 10:13 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>There's a hair salon about a half mile from my house whose name is
>>>"Kryptonnite".  I have no idea why (or what's with the two n's), but
>>>I haven't seen Superman around the neighborhood, so I guess it works.
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org