Sort of like a group of angry, middle-aged feminists naming their blog FILFhunter.com, if ya get my drift.

And no, please don’t try to parse FILFhunter.

The word “Jalopnik” is a made-up word derived from the word “jalopy,” meaning a “car,” (often a hoopty, beater, old run-down car; or, conversely, a very fancy, mint-condition or unusual car) and the suffix “-nik.”

According to The Columbia Guide to Standard Written English the suffix “-nik” is Yiddish or Russian in origin, while a Wikipedia article claims that it is Slavic in origin. It is used to describe a person related to the thing, state, habit, or action described by the word to which the suffix is attached.

Other words that use this suffix with similar meaning are: “beatnik, peacenik, and computernik.”

So, a “Jalopnik” is someone who is somehow related to “Jalopies,” (someone who has, or likes, or is like a “Jalopy”).

The nonce (made-up word) “Showlopnik” is a combination of the words “Show” and “Jalopnik” and would mean someone who is somehow related to Jalopy Shows (i.e. someone who attends, or puts on, or who is a fan of auto shows).

I grew up wanting to go to one of the auto shows, there weren’t any where I lived. Now I live in Birmingham, where our local show is decent but we only get a few 6 month old concepts. I was beginning to think that our show is just lame and maybe I should road-trip to see a “real” one. Now I know that I’m not missing anything other than some cold weather and a press clusterf***.

Also the Chicago Auto Show is indefensible when it comes to the lack of intro models. I mean who cares that they can fit so many cars under one roof when all you have Corollas, Aveos and G5s in triplicate. It is just one big showroom that is actually less informative and more inconvenient than a visit to the dealer.

It almost makes me wonder if they’re doing it just for the buzz it might generate, regardless of how negative and completely stupid it is?

Chicago Auto Show = Britney Spears?

Three-quarters of the cars at major autoshows (i.e. Detroit, Chicago) have no pricing information at all.

I attend Detroit every year. I was thinking about hitting Chicago next year instead, but this makes me not want to bother. The thing that really gets me is that you can’t even find out info if you wanted to (and, as others have said, these glitzy events are for enthusiasts – people looking for the cheapest version of the Kia Rondo need to see their local dealer). At Detroit, I asked a Subaru spokeswoman how much the new Forester would cost. She couldn’t tell me. There also was no pricing information even on the Impreza and Legacy models that I can find in double-digint numbers a mile from my house at the local Subaru dealer. Chrysler and Ford were the only carmakers that I saw pricing info at. I tried to find some out (at Kia, Mitsubishi, and a few others) to no avail.

I believe Jalopnik is a neologism combining jalopy, an old slang term for autos, and the Slavic/Yiddish suffix -nik, roughly someone who is in to something, like Beatnik; thus Jalopnik is someone who is into cars.

Showlopnik is just stupid, though.

What the buying public really needs to know is whether the Buick LaCrosse has any new colors, whether the Mercury Mountaineer offers 18″ rims and all about the new cabin pollen filter in the Kia Rio.

And the message is that Autoblog lacks professionalism?…

Detroit also suffered from leaks and pre-releases, but they had more cool stuff, even if the venue is a fraction of Chicago’s.

To which I say: grow up, kids, this is they way it is, and those of us who don’t attend auto shows don’t give a damn what you think.

And, where to all these enthusiasts go for their instant information re: these intros? Sites like Autoblog, TTAC, Jalopnik, etc. Its the immediacy of the information available on new media that has made the old buff books “news” irrelevent and generates interest in attendance at the major shows.

But for the intros, what interest do I have to go from MN to Chicago each spring?

I think this guy is having a major captain obvious moment by stating what the purpose of a car show is…and the fact that what is on a web page reaches more people for a longer period of time after the show is long gone is eluding him.

From his comments he appears to be the self-absorbed one, not the people he’s chastising.

Mark me down for never stepping foot in the Chicago auto show after the two displays of stupidity from these people.