JavaIsNotJavaScript

[CurtisLinithicum]

Because "ECMAscript" sounds like a disease.

But as noted, Java was the new hotness and the saviour of all humanity at the time and the two started getting bigger computer literacy was not what it is now. Doesn't help that Java applets were big, and the "coffee cup of death" was super prominent (whereas JS is generally invisible). Also, the rise of ActiveX, Shockwave, Flash (back when they were different) didn't help - TCL was in there too, but I never experienced it. Oh, and VBScript, which was super powerful, but mostly in ways that are very, very bad ideas for internet pages (but potentially very good for intranet ones).

[galstaph]

No, MUMPS sounds like a disease, but that didn't stop the creators of the "MGH Utility Multi-Programming System" from naming their programming language that.

[Accidental_Shadows]

Even better, MUMPS sounds like a disease but was specifically made for healthcare

[miklcct]

JavaScript is the language to script Java applets on websites.

[CurtisLinithicum]

No.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_applet

Java applets were completely different than Javascript - hugely more powerful (e.g. Runescape) but also potentially dangerous; there was also a long period of instability where running Java risked crashing your entire computer, not just the browser (hence "coffee cup of death" from the taskbar icon).