Still Life with Robin: When is a punny new business name not that funny?

by Peggy Robin

For those of us who still remember the long lines on Sunday mornings at Whatsa Bagel (popular in the 1990s and early 2000s), the news from the Popville blog is very welcome: 

“Over Doughs Bagels is going into old Captain Cookie Space. Handcraft Donuts taking over former Sakusaku. (3417 Connecticut Ave, NW)” 

Full story here: https://www.popville.com/2026/09/bagel-and-donuts-dc-cleveland-park/

[Photo shared by Tenleytown & Around on the former Twitter site, April 16, 2026]  

I'm wondering, however, if store name-punning in this case is taking a wrong turn. "Over Doughs" is a homonym of "Overdose" -- not a fun thing for wordplay -- that's my first reaction. Am I being too stodgy? People do talk about overdosing on carbs, and I suppose they can do that without having it resound in a bad way with people who associate an overdose with a fatal or near-fatal ingestion of illegal drugs.

However, when the sound of the word "overdose" is the first thing you hear in your mind when you see the sign on a new place of business, do you make that benign association? Or do you think, "God, that's awful!"?

Just asking....

-------------------

Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.