Let’s start out with this. I love Yahoo! I get everything from my mail, to the majority of my news at that website. I have done so for almost 18 years, but here’s the thing; I still can’t believe that’s the name of the website. Yahoo? I thought it would never last, not from a technology point of view, but just the name itself……..did I mention it’s called Yahoo? I’m not sure why I first picked Yahoo over the other sites. Maybe it seemed like the thing to do as Yahoo was just beginning to emerge from the shadows of AOL, but I have to tell you, it wasn’t easy. I was one of those people who used the term Yahoo all the time; and it wasn’t flattery to anyone.

I can be an impulsive person; I figure that even if my decisions don’t turn out so well, I can “wing it ” as I go, and somehow my ability to navigate chaos will carry me through. Knowing this, I can now tell you the trouble it took me to open an email address with the name Yahoo attached to it. I not only put off the task many times, but quit half way through the process a few more beside that. I kept thinking, “it’s just like having an email address that states “Zulu Delta @ RedNeck.Com.” As the years went by, I made my peace with the name, and  things turned out great. 

I was wrong about Yahoo, but being sure I was right about a crazy-named airline I used to hop from Newark to Providence, I did some research and as it turns out……..yea, I was wrong about that as well.  It was called Ransome Airlines.

I ‘m not kidding ( I will have none of that on my site!). The name was Ransome Airlines. Nobody ever believed that was the name of the airline. When people would come to pick me up at the airport, I would tell them who I was flying with. That started more than a few exasperated conversations, snide remarks, and finally, out right hysterical laughing when the truth would present itself to them as it had to me.

There turned out to be several intriguing points with the airline, which unlike its name, was far more respectable, and interesting than a literal “fly by night outfit.” The first was,  the airline was named for J. Dawson Ransome; My name is Zulu Delta……..hey, who am I to judge……..don’t answer that!

The next interesting point is, Ransome was founded in 1967, and through its original identity, and some affiliations that followed, continued existing far longer than you would think with that name, and go on to be a pioneer of the “commuter” airlines. By the time Ransome had finished it’s “run,” the airline would, according to Wikipedia, would be operated by Allegheny Commuter (1970-1982), Delta Connection (1984-1987), Pan Am Express (1987-1991) and finally Trans World Express (1991-1995). That’s quite prestigious aviation lineage for a name that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, and frequent flyers.

Yahoo, Ransome, Zulu Delta; it’s good to be wrong sometimes.