Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:06:37 -0600
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: VW car names ...
In-Reply-To: <8728655942EF4BFB8C2E41D95A2E3B14@gp207joel>
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If they are so into winds for names of cars, they should have given at
least one vehicle the name of the wind that blows after after a big
dinner of good German sauerkraut, bratwurst and potatoes.How ever did
they miss it?
The short four letter word for the wind would have worked just fine. ;-)
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
John Rodgers
joel walker wrote:
>>> Back to VW .........to start a whole movement and craze with the VW
>>> Rabbit
>>> car in the 70's........brilliant, but then turn around and call it
>>> a
>>> 'golf'......
>>> what the heck is that about ??? Why not call it the Golf Ball, or
>>> the
>>> Baseball.
>>
>> Actually, once you look up "Golf" and find it means "Gulf" in
>> German... OK, so it still doesn't make any sense.
>
> it sorta does. if you're a german car-namer. ;)
> vw decided to name all its models after winds. yup. winds.
> so Passat ... a tradewind.
> Golf ... the wind that comes along with the Gulf Stream
> Scirocco ... a variation of Sirocco, a hot dust-laden wind that blows
> from the Libyan desert toward Italy and Malta.
> Jetta ... a fast wind? not the Jet Stream, as you might think (unless
> it's a familiar name for it), cause that (jet stream) is
> Strahlstroemung ... and i really don't think you want to hang that
> name on a car! ;)
> Touareg ... the name of indigenous folks in the Tenere desert, in
> Niger, and likely the name of a wind in that area.
> and of course,
> Eurovan ... the name of that sucking wind that escapes from your
> wallet when you buy cars from a vw dealer. ;)
>
> the rest of their names are just ... well ... goofy.
> Sharan ... is a Persian word meaning 'carrier of kings'.
> Touran ... is a combo of "tour" and Sharan.
> Tiguan ...since a 'tigon' is a result of mating a Tiger and a Lion, i
> can only assume a Tiguan
> is the result of mating a Tiger and an Iguana. i'd pay money to see
> that one.
> either that or it's just "tiger droppings" as in Tiger Guano.
> Beetle ... is a bug.
> Rabbit ... aw, who cares. :)
> Fox ... what chases Rabbits?
> Routan ... Routine and Sharan (?) :)
> GTI ... Golf This Isn't.
> Eos ... the ancient Greek goddess of the dawn. perfect name for a
> small car, don't you think?
> New Beetle ... a new bug.
> New Beetle Convertible ... a new bug that won't stay the same.
> CC ... no, really. it's a car. probably stands for Car-Car, from that
> old Peter, Paul and Mary song about "take me for a ride in your
> car-car".
> Polo ... short for Polizei Ordnung or Police Rules. either that or
> it's the name of that game with the horses and sticks.
> Phaeton ... a four-wheel horse-drawn carriage. now there's a $80,000
> name for ya.
>
> so their names are not much better than the american ones. i mean,
> Mercury Marqui? as in Marqui de Sade?? oh, that'll make you want that
> car!
> Chevy Cobalt? wonder if they meant to call it the Chevy Cobol, to
> compete with the soon-to-be-released Ford Fortran. (old programmer's
> joke). ;)
> Dodge Demon ... riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
> Chevy Nova ... we all know that story, right?
> Ford Fusion. lemme see now, fusion is the pushing together of two
> atoms under tremendous pressure. so we can expect this car to push
> itself into other cars?
>
> but i guess they make as much sense as M-Class or S-Class or XC-70 or
> some such. actually, the bmw's and the old volvo system of name was,
> to me, a lot more sensible ...
> 325. 3-series body, 2.5 liter engine. then they started cheating and
> putting 2.8 engines in there.
> volvo was even better ... 265 ... 2nd body series, 6-cylinder engine,
> 5-doors (station wagon).
>
> i do wonder sometimes, if car makers are just desperate by the time
> the car is almost ready, and they'll grab at anything those
> pot-smoking 'stylists' in california give 'em. :)
>
> unca joel
>
>
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