The publicity generated by Language on Vacation led to Borgmann being contracted by industrial design firm Loewy & Snaith to invent brand names for their clients. For this work he is widely cited as the creator of "Exxon", which Standard Oil adopted as its new name after paying Borgmann a $10,000 fee.[1][3][18] At $2000 per letter, commentators joked that this made Borgmann the most highly paid writer in history.[7][18][19] Language on Vacation also attracted the attention of puzzle author Martin Gardner, who in 1967 recommended Borgmann as the editor for Greenwood Periodicals's new magazine Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. Borgmann edited the magazine for its inaugural year, but resigned after Greenwood refused to meet his salary demands.[7][20] When Greenwood appointed fellow logologist Howard W. Bergerson to succeed him as editor-in-chief, Borgmann refused to ever speak to him again.[21]