STAGE AND SCREEN



In American cartoons firms and companies are often called ACME. What does this stand for? Catherine Lowe, Glasgow, Scotland ACME is from the Greek for 'highest point'. In English, acme usually means the peak of perfection, a concept which easily transfers over to the fictitious name of a company in a film, book, or whatever. The reasons why a film producer would want to use such an unrealistic name are obvious when the potential perils of borrowing a real name are considered: breach of trade marks, copyright, defamation and so on. Having said that, there are no fewer than eight companies listed in the Dublin phone book which use ACME in some form in their names. Howard Rose, Dublin, Ireland Any Credible Manufacturing Enterprise that can claim to be the best in their field. Adrian T, As far as I can recall ACME is either Ace Company Makes Everything or simply A Company Makes Everything. Mark Mongan, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear American Companies Make Everything. Although I'm sure the rocket roller-skates and magnetic birdseed widely endorsed by Wile E. Coyote are made in a small factory in Twickenham. Angel, Dewsbury, UK Ahem, Webster's sez: Acme: The highest point; summit; peak. Or as the big chicken would say: That's a joke, son! Ross, Rosh Pina, Israel Acme is not an acronym but a word which means the highest point (of achievement). So the fact that most rabbit-traps, gravity-driven anti-roadrunner anvils, inflatable weapons of mass destruction, fold-out roadblocks and stick-on tunnel entrances are made by Acme is simply a claim that they are the best available, clearly something which needs to be referred to the trading standards authorities. David, Perth, Australia According to the road runner documentry (honest) I saw recently ACME stands for "A Company that Makes Everything". Mark Mongan, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear It doesn't actually stand for anything. ACME is a ficticious word that can be used in cartoons, movies, TV as nobody actually owns the rights to the name. Gary, Dublin, Ireland The American Company that Makes Everything Ian Nicol, Redhill, UK It doesn't stand for anything. It is a generic name for "the best", as in the "acme" of achievement, the apex, the peak, the pinnacle. Peter Marcus, London, UK Its closeness to the beginning of an alphabetical list may have meant that at one time it was quite popular, as with "A1 Car Hire" today, or with the high prevalence of names beginning with the letter "a" preferred by publishers. Esmerelda Patterson, Bournemouth, England The Sears-Roebuck "Wish Book," an enormous mail-order catalogue that was a fixture in many American households at the turn of the century, called its in-house line of products "Acme." (Probably for the reason cited above by several people, suggesting the peak of quality; maybe the word didn't sound so archaic then.) So it became well-known as a semi-generic brand name, and Warner Brothers started using the "Acme" brand name in its cartoons in the 1930's. The roadrunner cartoons, which began in the 1940's, have kept up "Acme's" currency as a generic name long after most of us have forgotten about the Sears catalogue. Haruko, New York, US All Creatures Must Eat. Or something like that. Guy McGunns, Whipstopple Scotland I can distinctly remember my grandmother having an ACME brand mangle in her utility room. Not only does this make me sound very old, surely it means it is the name of a bona fide company? Mark Thornton, London UK It's A Company that Makes Everything. Andy Jardine, Glasgow U.K. ACME stands for 1) Another Cute Mans Ear 2) A Chinese Marketing Executive 3) Anything Crazy Men Expect 4) And anything else all the stuffed shirts above want it to mean, it can mean whatever you want it to mean. Just make the stuff up. David Hooton, Cairns, Australia



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