Brought to you by the letter M

March 18, 2005 8:38 AM

The Retail Alphabet Game I guessed about a third of these, but I really want to know where that letter Q comes from. I'm not desperate enough to buy a clue.
posted by mokujin (47 comments total)

My guess is Dairy Queen.
posted by Miss Bitchy Pants at 8:41 AM on March 18, 2005

I am quite absurdly proud to say I didn't know a single one of those.
posted by Decani at 8:42 AM on March 18, 2005

Yeah, that's a DQ ... er ... Q.
posted by macadamiaranch at 8:42 AM on March 18, 2005

Dairy Queen for sure.
posted by Miko at 8:50 AM on March 18, 2005

I am quite absurdly proud to say I didn't know a single one of those.

Oddly, Dairy Queen is the only one I immediately do know.
posted by Miko at 8:51 AM on March 18, 2005

I only got six or seven... i guess that's pretty good. Neat post.
posted by salad spork at 8:54 AM on March 18, 2005

Canon City Twix .... ???

I did the previous versions of the retail game ... my eyes were bleeding by the time I finally got USPS. It takes a long time to sift google images looking for a single letter :-(
posted by devbrain at 8:57 AM on March 18, 2005

Anyone who didn't get G must have had a very boring childhood.

I got 11 of the 4th edition ones. There are a couple more that I feel like I recognize, but I just can't tell.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:00 AM on March 18, 2005

Dairy Queen! I knew I recognized it; I pass by one of these every night on my way to work. Thanks, all. Now I can sleep.
posted by mokujin at 9:03 AM on March 18, 2005

I hot H, J , N, Q, S, U, X, Y and Z
posted by rocket88 at 9:04 AM on March 18, 2005

and G (of course)
posted by rocket88 at 9:06 AM on March 18, 2005

I got B, C, Q, V
posted by kika at 9:07 AM on March 18, 2005

I went back and did them all (what can I say, my conference call hasn't started yet), and got 11 or 12 of them on each one. There were always a few that I felt like I recognized but I didn't get. Then there were always a few more that I had no idea, but when I checked the answers, turned out to be for companies that we don't have in Canada.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:11 AM on March 18, 2005

Damn...I got CGHJQSTVQYZ. The "A" is driving me nuts and that B is just like the one for brother, but I've got nothing on the rest.
posted by nTeleKy at 9:13 AM on March 18, 2005

Anyone who didn't get G must have had a very boring childhood.

It didn't seem so boring at the time. Maybe I'm just easily amused...
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:14 AM on March 18, 2005

Congratulations, you are a master of American culture.
Now, go out and buy stuff!
posted by gorgor_balabala at 9:17 AM on March 18, 2005

Was this originally published in Adbusters? I used an exercise like this in a tech-writing class that I teach to show the pervasive influence of consumer culture. At that time, I could nail about 20 of the letters. this time, only four for sure. I agree with jacquilynne that Market-specific versions should be developed. Don't want to deprive Weetabix eaters of their fun...
posted by beelzbubba at 9:21 AM on March 18, 2005

Isn't Q NyQuil? I've heard comics refer to the NyQuil haze as "entering the Q zone".

(the DNS at the company where I work apparently can't resolve the link)
posted by clevershark at 9:31 AM on March 18, 2005

See also...
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:37 AM on March 18, 2005

ACGHNPQRSTUVXY. b and d are somehow not Brother and Dr Pepper. O, J and F are bugging me.
posted by cillit bang at 9:40 AM on March 18, 2005

I missed the b thinking brother too.
16 on v.4, 15 on v.3
posted by p3t3 at 9:52 AM on March 18, 2005

As an exercise, this is one of those moments where you don't really want to get zero (cause it'll show how much of a hermit you really are), but you don't really want to get them all either (or you'll show just how deeply the man has got to you).

I'm pretty happy with my 11/26. I'm gonna go ahead and consider it a pretty healthy placement somewhere above 'Unibomber suspect' and somewhere below 'professional mallrat'

(no offense intended to any deep woods and/or mall-dwelling MeFites out there)
posted by UncleDave at 9:53 AM on March 18, 2005

cillit bang, choosy moms choose ... (that's j). T is bugging me, I'm sure it is a bank but I can't think of the name.
posted by squeak at 9:58 AM on March 18, 2005

I'm not ashamed of the ability to recognize logos. I'm somewhat of a wanna-be design aficionado. It doesn't necessarily mean I purchase those products, but I am happy with an above average score and would have been even happier if I'd scored 100% :)
posted by p3t3 at 10:00 AM on March 18, 2005

C, G, H, N, T, X, Z
posted by solotoro at 10:13 AM on March 18, 2005

p3t3, your happiness is what counts.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 10:23 AM on March 18, 2005

C, D, G, H, J, K, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Y, Z--and I got "Q" before i saw the spoilers up top.

I figure, if the corps are going to unilaterally appropriate portions of my memory, I should at least be allowed the primal pleasure generated by subconscious pattern-matching.
posted by retronic at 10:31 AM on March 18, 2005

B, C, G, H, J, L, Q, S, T, V, X, Z so far
posted by SashaPT at 10:52 AM on March 18, 2005

24/26 on my first try.

No, I'm not the least bit ashamed. I love logotypes.
posted by Down10 at 11:11 AM on March 18, 2005

B [spoiler]
posted by kika at 11:25 AM on March 18, 2005

I tried both that and brother for the b, and neither were marked correct, kika.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:33 AM on March 18, 2005

I can't see "b" as anything other than "brother".
As for "J", I realize choosy moms choose it, but it is always checked as wrong when I submit. Am I just misspelling it?
posted by Bugbread at 11:42 AM on March 18, 2005

"S" is easy. I know a genuine Sorny when I see one.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:50 AM on March 18, 2005

For "b" think of american tv stations, one of the big three. Choosy moms use three letters bugbread ;)
posted by squeak at 11:58 AM on March 18, 2005

Anyone who didn't get G must have had a very boring childhood.

Or perhaps a very non-American one. Which I assure you isn't the same thing at all.
posted by Decani at 12:03 PM on March 18, 2005

Z, Y, X, T, S, Q, P, N, J, I, H, G, C

B with help though i think "brother" should have been an acceptable answer.

I'm with uncle dave on this one...i like my middle-of-the-road status.

Stuff like this always reminds me of the Don Hertzfeldt animation Rejected.

"I'm a corporate whore!...and how?"
posted by schyler523 at 12:19 PM on March 18, 2005

How is N--- a "retail" or "corporate" anything? AFAIK, I can't get N--- products at the local Kroger or Wal-Mart or anywhere else, unless I go to one of their museum gift shops and I don't think *that* counts.

(but it *is* a cool logo...)
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:31 PM on March 18, 2005

Err, Lego is Danish, not American, Decani.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:43 PM on March 18, 2005

B, C, G, J, N, P, Q, S, T, U, V, X and Z.

There are a bunch that I know I know, but can't quite get.
posted by fizz-ed at 1:03 PM on March 18, 2005

got everything but F... did anyone figure that out?
posted by frufry at 1:44 PM on March 18, 2005

scratch that. got them all.

anybody need a spoiler?
posted by frufry at 1:51 PM on March 18, 2005

Well jacquilynne, I'll admit that at least part of the reason I'm hopeless at this (as well as being non-American) is that I seem to be Lego logo-blind. I wasn't much for Lego, either. I was more into chemistry sets, board games and masturbation.
posted by Decani at 1:52 PM on March 18, 2005

Can someone who's solved all put it up on a website or something?
posted by papakwanz at 1:55 PM on March 18, 2005

yeah, here are all the answers... enjoy!

A - N and O - Z
posted by frufry at 2:23 PM on March 18, 2005

This was a huge hit in my office on a very slow and quiet afternoon.

Thanks for the cheat sheet!
posted by LavaLady at 2:46 PM on March 18, 2005

now i can go home; thanks frufry!
posted by retronic at 2:47 PM on March 18, 2005

That's funny. I would have probably never gotten Google. I did get the N after ROU_X's hint ...

I got about 10. I've seen that damn Kinko's sign a million times, and I still didn't reconize the font.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:40 PM on March 18, 2005