Sort of an obituary
The TV in my living-room is, or rather was, a Hornyphon. It happened to happily live in a grimy living-room in Carinthia, which happened to be my grandhmother’s. Then she died. Then I took it with me.
I’ve had it, or had had it, for almost ten years. In the past few weeks it occasionally refused communication. Tonight it went silent, and dark. It smelt funny (burning). It seems to be dead now.
Hornyphon itself, apparently named after the Czech family “Horny”, has been dead for a while. On the former premises of the company Hornyphon in the 3rd Viennese district, you can now find Vienna’s most prestigious research centre for biotechnology. The Vienna Bio Center. Hornyphon turns into Bio Center. Beautiful, isn’t it?
This page listing all sorts of funny language jokes lists “Hornyphon” as “Austrian Video recorder”. You fools! You ignorants!
Hornyphon also produced radios, apparently from 1923 onward. Hornyphon Prince 52 WW 551 A. www.hornyphon.at is totally unrelated.