The bikini has one of the best etymological origins I’ve ever heard. From Wikipedia’s entry on Bikini Atoll:
The name was popularized in the United States not only by nuclear bomb tests, but because the bikini swimsuit was named after the island in 1946. The two-piece swimsuit was introduced within days of the first nuclear test on the atoll, when the name of the island was in the news. Introduced just weeks after the one-piece “Atome” was widely advertised as the “smallest bathing suit in the world”, it was said that the bikini “split the atom”.
I hope somebody got MAD PAID off of that.
H-Bombs were tested on Bikini Atoll up until 1958. Makes you wonder what kind of bikini was the worst thing in 1954 after all.
The Daily Friction 