Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Second* Annual Ferdinand** Awards are here!

I love car names. I think they are fascinating and nonsensical all at the same time. At first glance, Odyssey sounds like a great name for a car, but who really wants to drive a vehicle named for a man whose journey home took approximately ten years longer than it should have?

"Are we there yet?"

The rules to win a Ferdinand:
1. I have to have seen the car, either driving or parked.
2. The name has to be interesting, noteworthy, or roast-worthy.


And the winners are ...

Best use of punctuation in a car name: That’s (Honda)

Best use of food for a car name: Cocoa (Daihatsu)

Best use of "It does what it says on the tin:" Carry (Suzuki)
It’s a pick-up truck.

Best use of a Biblical name: Noah (Toyota)
Does my seat double as a floatation device?

Best use of a nonsense word: Yaris (Toyota)
According to Toyota, Yaris is a hybrid of the German Ja and the Greek goddess Charis of beauty and grace. Toyota chose this combination because "we think this new name best symbolises the car's broad appeal in styling and is representative of Toyota's next generation of global cars."

Best use of a real word that is used for nonsense: Ipsum (Toyota)

Best use of a suffix: ist (Toyota)
Why "ist," you ask? I did not find it in English on the Toyota site, but I found this on wikipedia: "The name 'ist' is in reference to the suffix term '-ist,' which denotes something that adheres to, or is uniquely gifted in a specific talent, doctrine, or ability."

Best use of a suffix, Runner up: Vanette  (Nissan)

Best use of exponents: Cube3

Most awkward car name: Naked (Daihatsu)



*Second, because the first were in a letter I wrote to a friend when I lived in Tokyo.
**Father Ferdinand Verbiest, a Jesuit missionary to China, astronomer, mathematician, and inventor. Around the 1670s, he designed a steam-powered toy automobile, which some people claim is the oldest self-propelling vehicle.


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