Originally Posted by MSPeconomist

I'm personally amused by the name "hippo...." which is a not very flattering reference to an animal and sometimes to a very overweight/fat individual. Being a whale would have more positive connotations, as the term whale (in American English at least) is slang for a big investor or someone with lots of money.

Originally Posted by Chris0815

You do realize it is named after a brain structure and not the mammal? It is just the French habit of shortening longer words into very French abbreviations.