The fun’s done, “Hon.” I’m only posting these latest “Hon” stories out of a sense of duty to the blog.
A Trademark Too Far
(Baltimore Sun editorial, 12/10/2010)
Our view: Denise Whiting’s effort to legally control commercial use of a word all Baltimoreans own betrays the civic trust
For the purposes of this editorial, we will refrain from using a three-letter expression in common parlance among Baltimoreans, particularly those of the waitressing profession, that starts with an “H,” ends in an “N” and has an “uh” in the middle. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to readers, but we would not want Café You-Know-What owner Denise Whiting to demand we turn over the entire press run of the newspaper, as she did with some unfortunate soul who was selling H-word paraphernalia at the airport a few years ago. We do, after all, still hope to make money from printing and selling papers, and we’d hate to run afoul of the trademark Ms. Whiting apparently so jealously guards.
Continue reading at The Baltimore Sun.
More Baltimore Sun Coverage:
- The “Hon” Kerfuffle
- Dining @ Large: The article about Cafe Hon
- Readers Respond: Are you kidding, Hon?
Cafe Owner Trademarks “Hon”
Using Baltimore’s favorite term of endearment could soon cost you. Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting owns the rights to just about every play on the word “hon.” Whiting says she trademarked “hon” after hearing about other merchants trying to profit off the brand she spent years to trying to create.
Watch news report at WBFF Fox 45.
Cafe’ Hon owner has rights to ‘hon’
No matter how you say it, hon, it’s a Baltimore term of endearment. At Café’ Hon in Hampden, you see it everywhere inside the restaurant. But did you know those three letters H-O-N are trademarked? In fact, the word has been for about 10 years, along with “Honfest”and “Hon Bar.” We talked to restaurant owner Denise Whiting on the phone, who says she’s just trying to protect the brand she created 20 years ago.
Watch news report at ABC 2 News.
Yelp.com Cafe Hon Reviews
Let’s pretend, for a moment, that we inhabit a Baltimore-that-never-was–the bastard child of the sitcom Alice (“Kiss ma grits!”), the movie “Hairspray” and Elvis in his Vegas period. Put it on a postcard with a saccharine re-imagining of a working-class, small, Eastern city of the late 1950s.
Now surround it with unspeakable Lovecraftian horrors which the sane mind cannot comprehend: despairing working stiffs trying to turn a buck on a $15 pancake order; the smell of day-old lard; omelet like hockey pucks, hard nubs of cheese glued to the inside; alien pink birds; the insufferable nasal twang of rich people saying “I love it, HON!”
You have entered the Café Hon universe.
Continue reading Cafe Hon Reviews at Yelp.com.
Take Back Hon
