# Danish : SØM



## Pierrette79

Hi everyone !

I am looking for a name for a fabrics shop and sewing workshop. Google told me that the word "SØM" in danish, which i find graphically and phonetically beautiful, can mean "seam", "couture" in french. But it seems that this word can also mean "nail" ... my question is : is whole Denmark going to laugh at this frenchy calling her boutique NAIL ? Or is this word really used in the sewing vocabulary ? would you find it strange to see a shop called "SØM" ?

Thank you in advance for your answers !


Bonjour à tous,
Je cherche un nom pour une boutique de vente de tissu et atelier couture. L'ami Google me dit que le mot "SØM", que je trouve très joli graphiquement et phonétiquement, peut vouloir dire "couture".  Mais il semble que cela signifie aussi "clou" ... ma question est donc la suivante : si j'appelle ma boutique SØM, est-ce que tout le Danemark va se moquer de la petite française qui a appelé sa boutique CLOU ? Ou est-ce que ce mot est bien utilisé pour désigner la couture ?
Merci d'avance et vraiment désolée si c'est un gros hors sujet !


----------



## Sepia

I would certainly find it odd. The first thing I would think of is nails. Many people would. If you want some hints on how to find good names pn me your e-mail address, before the mods deem this outside the scope of the forum. I've worked in advertising for a couple of decades...


----------



## F-Hernán

May I suggest that 'søm' could refer to the building of boat, say a viking ship, where the boards overlap and nails keep them together.


----------



## F-Hernán

Or even better 'hestesøm', which is the nail that keeps the horseshoe (hestesko) in place.


----------



## Pierrette79

Thank you very much for your answers! I am probably going to look for a new name for my shop 😀


----------



## piccando

I just found a page with English/Danish translations of terms related to sewing - I don't know the quality of the translations but it might give some inspiration.


----------



## F-Hernán

More about sewing and nails from Wikipedia:

"For purposes of measuring cloth, the early yard was divided by the binary method into two, four, eight and sixteen parts.[57] The two most common divisions were the fourth and sixteenth parts. The quarter of a yard (9 inches) was known as the "quarter" without further qualification, while the sixteenth of a yard (2.25 inches) was called a *nail*."


----------



## Pierrette79

Thank you for this page Piccando !! And they use "søm" for "seam" ... 
And it seems that nails dont have nothing to see with sewing ...


----------



## PoulBA

en søm - a seam
et søm - a nail
both words are absolutely common and without any obvious synonyms, but without context or article you really wouldn't know whether you are in the world of tailoring or hardware. Sepia #2 alleges that many people will think of nails first; many others, I'm sure, will look for context before making up their minds.


----------



## serbianfan

Surely if you're thinking of a name to put on a sign above a real shop, and the shop window is full of things connected to sewing, nobody who sees that is going to think about nails? Or have I misunderstood the context?


----------



## Sepia

PoulBA said:


> en søm - a seam
> et søm - a nail
> both words are absolutely common and without any obvious synonyms, but without context or article you really wouldn't know whether you are in the world of tailoring or hardware. Sepia #2 alleges that many people will think of nails first; many others, I'm sure, will look for context before making up their minds.



Not necessarily - I asked the author of the thread directly whom he has in mind as his target group. 
There will be a bunch of people - general consumers - that will not picture anything that has to do with sewing as their first thought.. Of course most educated people will come up with the right solution on second thoughts, but that is useless in such a context. Advertising needs to be clear, trigger images and emotions instantly. Especially today. Otherwise the viewer will just keep on walking and not be curious and look if this store will fulfill his needs or wishes.
But if the target group are people who actually deal with the subject "sewing" regularly, the name will make sense.


----------



## Sepia

Sepia said:


> Not necessarily - I asked the author of the thread directly whom he has in mind as his target group.
> There will be a bunch of people - general consumers - that will not picture anything that has to do with sewing as their first thought.. Of course most educated people will come up with the right solution on second thoughts, but that is useless in such a context. Advertising needs to be clear, trigger images and emotions instantly. Especially today. You usually only have but a few fractions of a Second to catch your target person's attention. Otherwise the viewer will just keep on walking and not be curious and look if this store will fulfill his needs or wishes.
> But if the target group are people who actually deal with the subject "sewing" regularly, the name will make sense.


----------

