JIM BARLOW – Houston Chronicle (c) – Writes:

Really, no foolin, this stuff is weird.

Since this is April Fools Day, what better time for yet another installment of Weird Business News?

Yep, time for another look at the sometimes wacky world of commerce.

ABC Namebank, a New York City firm that helps businesses come up with suitably salable company names, took a look at popular nomenclature for firms on the World Wide Web.

The No. 1 Internet company name included the word web. There were 8,783 names such as Webtron,USWeb and Webtech. Next came link – 7,901 examples such as Linknet and Worldlink.

Other popular key naming words include: first, 5,384; net, 4,426; data, 3,335; view, 2,815 and media, 1,254.

So obviously my new Internet business will be named Firstview Datalink Mediaweb.
Our Worst Food Idea Award goes to Einstein Brothers Bagels, which for St. Patricks Day sold green bagels at its 225 stores. Heres my green bagel. Now pass me some of that black cream cheese.
Our Stop the Presses Award goes to Delta Dental Plan of Minnesota, which – after an extensive survey – reported that the going rate the Tooth Fairy is paying for a baby tooth is $1.40. That was up 9 percent over 1996, more than three times the rate of inflation.