Meet the Prius

Filed under: Transportation
14 Comments

Prius, front viewHere are a couple of photos of my new Prius. Sorry for the low quality; they were taken quickly, in dim light, without benefit of flash (the ones where I did use the flash are sharper, but overall darker, so I'm not posting those).

I haven't yet named the car; suggestions welcome, but as with Eleanor (follow the "next entry" links from that entry until 26 November to see the entire heffalump saga, or just search my journal for "heffalump"), I reserve the right to pick a name without regard to what people suggest. For that matter, I reserve the right to leave the car nameless. You can suggest as many names as you like, either by posting a comment from my journal page (LJ folks, remember to follow the link to my journal before commenting) or by sending me email. I may or may not do a poll later to see what names people like best, but probably not.

Prius, rear viewOf course, I never did get around to naming the Geo Metro; I always wanted to name it something to do with hummingbirds, but never found quite the right word or name. (And it was a little too blue in color to be hummingbird-green anyway.) Cat used to call it Brio, because that was embroidered on the dashboard cover (it had been the previous owner's nickname), but I never really thought of that as its name.

I've always found the practice of naming inanimate objects (especially important ones like houses and cars) charming, but I've rarely done it myself. And may still not in this case; depends on whether I encounter a name that I really like.

14 Responses to “Meet the Prius”

  1. naomi_traveller

    I tend to name my cars after the plates.
    so there was Abeeb (ABYB142), the student Ford Escort (“I don’t think,” my grandmother said worriedly, “that that’s a terribly appropriate name for a nice Jewish car.”)
    who became Abeeb II when I changed the car but the plates stayed the same, and is now Whiskey-Hello-Victor since the California move. I admit I think of the Neon now as “Whiskey, Hello!” and have dropped the Victor entirely due to long familiarity.

    Whatever you do please do not name your car Naomi. A friend’s husband has named their car “Noemie” and every time she refers to the car by name, I cringe. I don’t *think* they named it after me, but who knows. It’s weird.

  2. Jed

    🙂 I was thinking of going the other way and putting the car’s name on a custom plate….

    I had about two seconds just now of being tempted to name the car KITT, ’cause it’s black and high-tech and futuristic. But then it occurred to me that I could really only call it that if I had gotten the navigation system that talks.

  3. Lola

    Well, I think it’s a good idea that you’re going to either a) name the car or b) put custom plates on the car or c) both, because we’ve got to have _some_ way of telling our black Prii apart! Course, I have some ideas about my as-yet-nonexistent Prius, but I’m not ready to tell.

    Hmmm, names… How ’bout Spike? Spot? Fido? 🙂

  4. SarahP

    Geez, it just took me five tries to type my email address in.

    Here’s the name of our car: The Boring Bullet. It’s a gray Mazda Protege and it’s really, really, boring.

    But your Prius so pretty and sleek!

  5. Jay Hartman

    Holly, my scientist wife, may give up on her long-time dream of someday naming our child “Interferon” (Iffy for short) if you bestow that moniker on your new car.

    If “Iffy” is a no go, please feel free to take either of Holly’s back-up child name choices for the Prius: “Immunoperoxidase” (Immy for short) and “Thumbelina” (Thummy) See what I have to put up with? 😉

  6. Arthur Evans

    Hey Jay,

    I wanted to name my son after the late, great Thelonious Monk, but my wife nixed both “Thelonious” and “Sphere” (Monk’s middle name). Some people just have no imagination. So I have to side with Holly on these excellent names. Although I think
    “Perry” would be another fine nickname for little Immunoperoxidase.

    Jed, maybe you should play off the hybrid nature of your new vehicle, and name it after a prominent hybrid, like “Early Girl” (tomato), “Sugar Baby” (watermelon), or “Chocolate Belle” (bell peppers).

    Or you could go for the fictional hybrids, like, say, “Swamp Thing.”

  7. Michael

    Lisa’s been wanting to get custom plates saying “YMMV” for a long time.

  8. Lola

    Along Arthur’s famous hybrid lines, how ’bout Plucot? Aprium? (Which has the added advantage of sounding like a child of Prius.) Or, for that matter, Arthur, you’ll remember the name I’m forgetting, from Matt’s Thanksgiving song? Turducken? You know, the combo of turkey, stuffed with duck, stuffed with chicken? Although I guess that’s not really a hybrid.

    Hmmm….

  9. Nao

    Car names. Two cars in my childhood were named after rabbits from Watership Down. (The first was a model that was similar to a VW Rabbit, you see.)

    Hm. I am feeling most uncreative at the moment.

  10. Jed

    Lola: 🙂 Good point re telling the cars apart. (Except yours will have the fancy navigation system, so I think we should keep them apart or mine will get jealous.)

    Jay: I like the idea of naming the car Interferon, but I would be sad to not have a niece with that name, after all the times I’ve told friends that was what Holly wanted to name your hypothetical kid. I don’t think I’d heard that Immunoperoxidase was a possible alternative; I like that too, and I like Arthur’s suggestion of Perry as a nickname.

    Arthur: I like the idea of naming it after some kind of a hybrid. But it’s much too sleek and black and butch to name it “Early Girl.” Though perhaps that would be a good counterbalance to the butchness. And maybe it’s too futuristic-looking to be butch anyway.

    Michael: 🙂 on YMMV, especially as a name for a high-mileage car.

    Lola: “Aprium” sounds like one of the heroes of the Trojan War. “Now were the Trojans all without the town / Of Aprium, armour-clad, with battle-cars / And chariot-steeds….”

    Nao: You’ve heard, no doubt, about the VW Rabbit with the license plate “IM L8”?

  11. Mya

    Your comment about the IM L8 license plate on a Rabbit reminds me of one of the best custom tags I’ve seen. It was on a little green bug, and it read APHID.

  12. Thida Cornes

    It seems like everyone around me is buying a Prius! I’ve developed a serious case of Prius envy! 😉 Enjoy your shiny new Prius, Jed!

  13. Cat Faber

    “Roxy” would be a good nickname for a kid (or a car) named Immunoperoxidase. Matches the stresses and all.

    Um. Jed wants a car with the sound NWD in it, that doesn’t make people think of nude.
    How about “Noodle” ?
    or “North Oodle–N. Oodle” 😉
    or “New Deal” ?

    That’s all I can think of right now. Except for Neutron but the t isn’t quite right.

  14. new prius owner

    umm.. i just did a google looking for ideas for my blue prius.. i was thinkin something japanese.. does anyone know any cool girl techy japanese names like from one of their cartoons or something?

Comments are closed.