WWTT is my new section called “What Were They Thinking.” I love to ask (typically out loud):

Were there 10 people sitting around a boardroom congratulating each other because they all thought this was a good idea?

In preparation for UFC 100, possibly the most excited I’ve been for a fight in a long time, I’ve been watching Spike’s “Top 100 Fights of All time.” About every other block of commercials they show one in particular for UTI.edu. The Universal Technical Institute is:

a nationwide provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians.

Excuse me? I was thinking UTI “universally” stood for something else? Pretty much every human from an English-speaking industrialized nation (most likely UTI.edu’s main market) understands UTI as a Urinary Tract Infection.

So, assuming this wasn’t a strange ploy like Aciphex to get attention, how many intelligent people did it take to sit around that board room and say… “Our offering is Technical… wait wait, and we’re an instittute…” I still follow them there… but what about the Universal part?

The definition of “universal” is so generic that it offers nothing to the name of the company. This is where they had the opportunity to bail themselves out and save face. I can understand if your name is “John Wilson” then you don’t have much choice but to name the college JWI.edu. But they chose to use “universal” which completes the UTI trifecta.

It almost makes me think that the name was a ploy to get people like me, watching Spike TV, with the humor level of a 12 year old, to laugh, talk about them and even go to their website. It worked, but this is still a really stupid name.