Reading recent posts about our loved pets, of all the care and expense we lavish on them and the enjoyment they give us, and how we (almost) always name them, because we feel they are an important part of our life, got me thinking of the parallel way we care and maintain and get enjoyment from our car, and yet we refer to it as She (why is it female?)
I refer to mine as ‘My little Yaris’ which doesn’t really sound very personal.
Should we name our car, what would be appropriate names, (hopefully not Lemon)
and have you named your car?
One of my first cars was a green Celica. It was of course called Kermit.
In Melbourne we had a rather controversial sculpture called ‘the yellow peril’. My not very reliable yellow Torana was thus named.
My Ford wagon I drove around Canada and the USA years ago was named Hoss, after the character in Bonanza. Big and ugly and short for heap of substandard sh*t.
The Mazda Tribute, which I ordered with lots of cosmetic, but really useless accessories, was named Mr T, after the actor in The A Team. Covered all over with bling.
We must be a less loving family when it comes to our motor vehicles, or other ….
The Falcon Ute is just called the Ford.
The family Toyota Kluger had always been known as Mum’s car or ‘my car’ if it’s the wise one speaking or ‘your car’ if it’s me seeking to borrow same. When there is something wrong with the vehicle it changes both familiar name and ownership.
The Ford can also experience a name change, often referred to as ‘that tank’ in a condescending tone when the Kluger does not meet needs.
Perhaps more affectionate names might help to diffuse some of the occasional angst.
I’m not sure I really want to rename ‘The Cox’ or ‘The Toro’ mowers. The second is more often referred to as the ‘Big Red Mower’. The Tractor remains nameless except when I need to order spare parts, and the full model number serves to be more useful.
Those from the land might suggest not being too attached. Vehicles are disposable assets. With some possible exceptions (EG Pot Roast, Island Cruise etc) numbered ear tags work just fine. The rego number might be just as useful.
An old Holden we bought when first married was called “Purv” after it’s previous owner and a friend of our’s, Lochie Dean Purvis, who also called the car Purv. Since then not many have been named anything beyond “the car”.
Husband’s mother (who died 30 years ago this week) named her car “Mabel” and it was always breaking down.
Her husband would not let her learn to drive, but she had to try piloting The Truck on days and weeks when he didn’t front to deliver the mail on the rural run (and the family needed the money) some 70 years ago.
She would have been in her 60’s before she got a licence. “Mabel” was an ancient bucket of bolts that was in constant need of work, full of rust, mismatched parts and panels, but it was the only thing she could call her own. None of the other vehicles in the family had names (apart from The Truck, The Chev, The Tractor). It meant a lot to her.
Mum called her (our) car “Bessie”. It was an elderly Morris Major Elite. I’ve never named my cars, nor thought of them as female. They’ve always been it, and referred to by the manufacturer name or model.
I’m not convinced all males have such universal qualities. Assigning genders to objects is common if one is French, or something observed amongst oldies (extended family) from parts of North Qld. It’s easier to learn a new language. I can’t remember for certain if cars were assigned a him or her or plain old it. I fancy the last of the choices.
Some languages like French, Italian…have no neutral grammatical gender, nouns are either feminine or masculine,
in French La voiture is feminine, in Spanish El automobile is masculine, in Italian L’automobile is feminine.
In English we have ‘It’ but often that’s turned into a personal ‘She’ when referring to a car, especially by men!
I refrained to say that all my car wants is a little feeding, washing and mechanical service…
Our former friend, Eddie, was a 2002 Pulsar.
Faithful to the end, he was traded in after 19 years, in February '21.
Current vehicle is a 2012 Peugeot, “who” my wife has named “Precious.”
Precious is now an honoured member of our family, and deserves to cared for well.
We kept Eddie garaged when possible, and avoided parking in the streets during the day.
Over my 55 years of owning cars and trucks, I have found that avoiding long hours parked in direct sunlight has vastly extended trade-in value and enjoyment, as paint and inner detailing remained as good as new throughout.
Not a vehicle with a known name but one I regularly see in the underground car park at our local shopping centre which presumably belongs to a cat lover.
All of my cars have had some form of name. The kids and I work on it now, we’ve had Blue, Polly Pocket rocket, big butte Bertha, Gem, sillycar, and minme the currents are Cherry and ummm because we haven’t named it yet… it adds a bit of fun.
