With humble & sincere apologies - but this stops NOW!

Off-Topic
1

I have been traveling across Europe for the summer, and attending (& speaking at) maker group conferences and maker labs in several countries (these are places and people who use 3d printers, laser cutters, adrinos, Raspberry Pi systems, and on-prem AI models, to create things & share their knowledge).

Everywhere I go, and especially in the countries of the Balkan region, people have reacted with absolute horror and repulsion to the name “Superhuman”.

They are offended and disgusted that ANY company would lionize such a term.

They understand that Americans are, perhaps, less well educated about the world of culture and recent history, but even so, it stretches their credulity.

This horrific term was used by the Nazis, the KKK, and other hateful organizations to differentiate between those who were acceptable (Superhumans) and those who were not (Subhumans), based on race and other concepts, and built an entire philosophy, regime, and extermination process on those ideas.

People in Europe remember those times. We still hold memorials for those of our families and communities who were exterminated by that regime, not so long ago.

I have been embarrassed in front of extremely intelligent and polite people who simply do not understand how anyone could imagine this hateful term to be in any way suitable for a company that is trying to do good in the world.

So this stops NOW.

I will use the words Coda and Grammarly.

I will not utter or type the other word, nor any of its diminutives, anymore.

Americans are offended when certain other words are used that have hateful connotations associated with their history. And rightly so.

Well, this is the same in Europe and other parts of the World.

The corporate people may continue to use whatever words they like in their branding and marketing. But I refuse to go along with that.

Grammarly is a very well-known and much-trusted brand name that stands for the use of AI to aid productivity, communication, and collaboration.

A simple pivot to imply ‘Grammarly Business AI’ would go down so well with tens (if not hundreds) of millions of people familiar with the word.

I apologize sincerely if I sound high and mighty or self-righteous.
But I am done trying to explain or excuse this terrible word.

I love the products, the people who engineer and support them, and this wonderful community of loyal users and makers. None of that changes. I will stay here and support this community, and use the Coda and Grammarly technology with my clients.

with regret
Max O’Brien

2

Indeed - I’m in NYC - memories and history of WWII are quite vivid. Using the word Superhuman is unacceptable. And BTW why is everything named after the 3rd member of the team ? As noted earlier: Superhuman and Grammarly are nice to have, but Coda is core and vital.

3

Not sure if this thread will ever surface, given that it’s in a hidden Off-Topic category…

I don’t dislike the brand name Superhuman but I agree that it’s somewhat tone-deaf. Can’t really picture a product called e.g. “KKK Docs” (as in 'kay, 'kay, 'kay) (actually this could be a new name for my three.do app that’s all about three quick taps lol :joy:) getting a nice reception in the US.

On the other hand, the world somehow accepted Uber. :man_shrugging: It had its share of problems in Europe but the name wasn’t the reason.

I’ll too keep calling the product Coda (and I don’t care about the other products in the suite anyway) and my practice Coda Tricks. I probably won’t oppose if the company rebrands again to something midway, e.g. Superdocs. I could picture there being Superdocs Mail, Superdocs Assistant, Superdocs Rows etc, as well as the titular Superdocs product itself (similarly to Notion Mail, Notion Calendar and the titular Notion)

4

Same here - I will keep using Coda until possible. And will keep typing coda in my browser until possible. Even Docs AI hears the word Coda better than my pronunciation of…. . Writing or saying “superhuman docs” is just too much. Aaand the history - true! I have my doubts every time I am about to write or say it. Not because of me but the person in front of me.

Paul’s suggestion as always are pretty good. Although I still like the short and sound Coda better.

PS: Coda is probably among the best brand names in our new AI world and seems to align pretty well with what Coda is turning into. Why would you not keep it?!

5

Hi @Max_OBrien ,

Thank you for putting this into words so clearly.

I do understand that when your roots are elsewhere in the world (India), you might not instinctively feel the tension that accompanies a term like “superhuman.” However, considering the Eastern European background of the Grammarly founders, it remains genuinely astonishing to me that this oversight happened at all. Given the deep and painful history of that region, you would naturally expect a much sharper sensitivity to the heavy historical weight this specific term carries.

Adding to the frustration is leadership’s apparent lack of interest and inability to relate to the concerns shared by the makers who actively advocate for this platform. For the longest time, the core brand we all rely on was largely neglected by marketing, and now with this sudden shift, we are put in a position where the new brand name is not only being laughed at, but also perceived as something dark given its historical context. That is not a great place to be.

We can only hope that the many features set the tone in the market and make the name itself irrelevant. Like many long term users, I stick with Coda.

Best,
Christiaan

6

I liked your medium article with the suggestion of a completely new name, a la Google, YouTube or Uber.

This new “thing” deserves not to be a rebranded sheet or doc. And compared to notion, obsidian, fibery, etc, Coda stands head and shoulders above them all.

Sadly, a missed opportunity.

7

SuperHuman? More like SuperCringe or SuperOffensive.