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Topics: Lego, Social Media, Reddit
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Lego, Social Media, Reddit
If you didn't know the history behind LEGO's name, then prepare for an education.
Despite the hours, days - if not years - you've dedicated to purchasing, building and playing with those little plastic blocks, have you ever stopped to think what LEGO actually means?
Prepare to feel like you're having one of those chats - or existential crises - at the end of a house party in the early hours of the morning.
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LEGO's website explains the beginning of its company didn't begin with the popular plastic brick sets we all know and love, but actually 'wooden toys such as cars, airplanes and yoyo's'.
Indeed, amid the period of the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the world was thrust into a global economic crisis and carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen's carpentry and joinery business began to suffer.
He was subsequently forced to think outside the box, and decided to produce 'new easy saleable products' such as producing ladders, ironing boards and other everyday items.
However, on top of this, Kristiansen decided to produce wooden toys in 1932.
By late 1935, he focused even further on the toy production and decided to find a new name for his company.
LEGO's website continues: "Kristiansen allegedly holds a competition among his employees to find a good name for the business. The competition winner (who can claim the prize of a bottle of Ole Kirk Kristiansen’s home-made wine) is ... Ole Kirk Kristiansen himself."
Kritsiansen decided on the two Danish words 'LEG GODT' which means 'Play Well' and the new name is 'officially used' from January 1936.
"The intention of the name is to reflect quality and children´s right to enjoyable play," LEGO's site explains.
And reflecting on his decision to focus on toy production, Kristiansen reportedly wrote in a letter: "It wasn’t until the day I told myself, 'You’ll either have to drop your old craft or put toys out of your head' that I began to see the long-term consequences.
"And the decision turned out to be the right one."
And it's not taken long for people to flock to social media to weigh in on the historical background and meaning behind the LEGO company's name.
One Twitter user said: "That is interesting," while another added: "Fun with linguistics."
A third joked: "I thought it meant foot killer."
"I thought it meant 'painful at 2am,'" a fourth said.
A fifth wrote: "Very cool."
And a final commented: "Synonym: floor weapon. Painful when stepped on."