mcfear

By Todd Stadler · Wednesday, January 23, 2002 7:09pm

Speaking of world domination through mediocre products, I was somewhat disturbed to find that McDonald's had registered the following domain names:

www.mctexas.com, www.mcarkansas.com, www.mcoklahoma.com, www.mcflorida.com, www.mcillinois.com, www.mcnebraska.com, and so on.

Although I assume this is an attempt by the global saturated fat concern to appear friendly and local, it has the effect of making it sound like our states are owned by a maniacal Scottish clown. And that bothers me.

Of course, some states sound better than others. McKentucky doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, whereas McCalifornia seems like something we should have been saying all along.

And then there are the grammar questions. Should it be Mcnorthdakota.com or North McDakota? Doesn't Rhode McIsland just make sense?

All of this reminds me of the time I was in a train station in Germany. We were desperately seeking some kind of sustenance, and the only place open was a McDonald's. I promise. There was a sign outside the restaurant in German that had only one word I could understand: McAmerica.

Maybe it was the exhaustion from riding on trains all day, maybe it was the early hour. But it scared me to see the name of my country with the McDonald's prefix on a sign written in German.

As it turns out, I needn't have worried. The sign had something to do with an Olympics ad campaign (PDF format). And besides, McDonald's has its sights set on something bigger.