Gaylord is, like heroin or band-aid, a trade name that has entered general use. It got its name from the Gaylord Container Corporation (which in turn got its name from the family name), which is now part of Temple Inland, a large Texan forest products corporation.
A gaylord is a simple, clever idea: a very strong, corrugated cardboard box on a wooden pallet. The term gaylord sometimes also refers to only the cardboard box, but most people use it to refer to the combination. A standard gaylord is usually from three to four feet cubed, about the right size to be handled by a forklift or pallet jack. The gaylord is surprisingly strong for something made of paper: I have seen them filled with materials weighing probably up to 500 kilograms. It is quite a feat to do with an item made of heavy paper, light wood, and that probably altogether only weighs forty or fifty pounds. Gaylords are an important way to keep random stuff together in a warehouse setting.
That being said...GAYLORD! The possibilities of juvenile humor are truly endless and inexhaustible. Whether intentional or unintentional, the gaylords of the world, and the big sweaty men who jam them full, are a neverending spring of laughter. Just when you think the joke has been played out, someone says, quite innocently, "I need to go get to that gaylord from behind". Of course, part of the humor comes from the ironic knowledge of how silly and stupid the puns and innuendos are. Part of it just comes from how funny the word gaylord is.
So to sum up: Gaylords...useful AND funny.