IKEA Products Names Are As Meaningless As You’d Assumed

Think of all the flirting you can do with your remote control nicely tucked away in your IKEA FLORT.

Think of all the flirting you can do with your remote control nicely tucked away in your IKEA FLÖRT.

While we all know that American brand names like Xfinity and Verizon are nonsense words made up by some marketing executive’s 4-year-old kid, some of us lived under a cloud of self-delusion, mistakenly believing that the Swedish words used for IKEA products had some relevance to the items they are attached to.

TheWeek.com rounded up more than a dozen IKEA products with names that have no apparently relation to the products they describe.

Among our favorites:

The FLÖRT, which translates, as you might have guessed) to “Flirt.” But it’s not anything sexy or boudoir-related. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The FLÖRT is one of those remote control pockets you hang over the edge of your couch. Perhaps the implication is that you can put the remote away so you can get your flirt on?

Then there’s TYDA, which means “Interpret, decipher” in Swedish. However, this product won’t be helping you decode your kids’ text messages; it’s merely a stainless steel cabinet handle.

And if you think trash cans are hilarious, there’s the FNISS, a wastepaper basket whose name translates to “giggles.” Maybe someone at IKEA has too-fond childhood memories of being amused by Oscar the Grouch.

Check out TheWeek.com for the rest of the list.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.