Fila With Fila?!

Wear Fila, run faster? Maybe not. Interestingly, the sportswear company Fila, founded in 1911 in Italy, doesn't take full advantage of word play in their advertising (then again, it's now owned by a South Korean company). To wit: The verb filare in Italian means: to speed (along), to run, to go at full speed. The III person singular form of the regular -are verb is fila. But alas, quick foot speed has nothing to do with the origin of the company name—Fila was the last name of the brothers who founded it. (And no, Fila doesn't stand for "Finally I left Adidas"!)

Interestingly enough, the verb filare is found in the (outdated) Italian expression filare con qualcuno, which means to "flirt with somebody." Similar expressions include avere un filarino and fare il filo a qualcuno—"to court someone."