I submit that “o-rama” is the natural form of this often abused suffix. My feeling towards the “a” variety is that it should be used out of necessity. For example, should you desire to name a giant cookie and milk consumption event, you would not want to call it “Oreo-o-rama”, but rather “Oreo-a-rama”. In this regard, you could consider them much like “a” and “an”.
dude, everyone knows it’s o-rama.
Concerning the business case presented, I think an incoming business would have a very hard defending their company name in a court of law as confusion of brands will inevitably occur. Something like this happened for the place I get my hair cut. Shop was called “Styles’R'Us”. They had to change their name (not sure if it was another, larger hair franchise or exactly why) – so they changed to “Styles For U”. Enough difference between the brands now to not cause market confusion.
Do you really think that any company with “rama” (or its various single-lettered ilk) in their name gave much thought to market confusion prior to opening for business?
precise-callibration-o-rama did. and they’ve cornered the market in ipswich.
I think they think about it as soon as someone else starts stealing business with their branding.
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A-Rama or O-Rama?
Fri 09/30/05
Help me out here. Is it “a-rama” or “o-rama?” (For example, your favorite local skating rink might be called either “Skate-A-Rama” or “Skate-O-Rama.”)
Ty suggested the following very possible scenario: a business moves into town, chooses their -vowel- wisely, and proceeds to set up shop. After a short amount of time, a second business owner decides the local economy can support a little friendly competition and, lacking the skills and/or monetary resources necessary to create or procure an original name for their new business venture, simply chooses a different vowel instead.
(Hopefully said vowel choice is not e, i, u, or sometimes y. After all, Skate-U-Rama doesn’t work very well and Skate-Y-Rama is more than likely bad Spanglish.)
I don’t buy Random House’s explanation.