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March 15, 2005
PoPeYes
Last night at dinner the subject of Popeyes Chicken came up. Someone mentioned that the name is not an allusion to the spinach-gobbling cartoon sailor. Have you ever seen him, Bluto, or Olive Oyl on a Popeyes commercial? Spinach is not even on the menu. Nor is it because of the nickname of someone with bulging eyeballs. Although they pronounce it on tv commercials like the possesive of "Popeye," supposedly the name is actually derived from the phrase "Pope Yes."
As evidence, he pointed out that the founder was a devout Catholic from Louisiana and that in the older logos there was kind of a space between the "e" and the "y." After he brought this to my attention I noticed that even in the current version, there is no apostrophe; it is "Popeyes Chicken" and not "Popeye's." And I'm not the only one who recognized the significance. The reporter also points out that upper and lower-case letters are mixed together in such a way that the "Y" is capitalized.
Hi-frickin'-larious. If this is true and their food is any good it might well become my favorite fast-food restaurant.
Posted by Thomas A. on March 15, 2005 at 11:37 AM | Permalink
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Comments
Not to throw a wet-blanket on the fried chicken, but I suspect that the lack of grammar actually has more to do with trademarks than Catholic agenda. Although, when you come to think about it, can you imagine a more disgusting name for a restaurant? Popeyes? What would be next...Amputees Burgers or Mutilations Pizza...
Posted by: Peter Terp | Mar 15, 2005 3:49:35 PM
Interestingly enough, Popeyes is affiliated with
Church's Chicken (http://churchs.com/corporate/main.asp)
Posted by: Boethius | Mar 15, 2005 4:21:32 PM
I'm from New Orleans, love Popeye's chicken and have never heard this before. Popeye's was founded (though no longer owned) by Al Copeland, a restauranteur who also started Copeland's restaurant chain and a few other individual eateries. A Catholic? I think (not feel!) so. Devout? I couldn't say, but Copeland is on his 3rd or 4th wife and has been in the news rather frequently for a couple of public brawls he's been in.
Posted by: Therese | Mar 15, 2005 4:22:48 PM
Yes, I realized after my previous post I incorrectly spelled "Popeye's" avec the apostrophe, when it should be "Popeyes" sans the apostrophe.
Posted by: Therese | Mar 15, 2005 6:43:35 PM
I was wondering what nationality is Al Copeland. My father is curious of his race. If possible could you email me any info on this matter. Thank You
Also, if anybody needs a gmail invite email me. jamesddog3@gmail.com
Posted by: James | Mar 31, 2005 10:26:06 PM
I used to notice that about the first logo, but they have since remedied that, and now I see that they are further modernizing it to just a capital "P".
Posted by: reidh | Feb 11, 2009 2:47:46 AM
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