QOTD: Trouble With Words?

Yesterday, the illustrious and quite tall Matthew Guy asked about the most linguistically pleasing model names. I tossed out the AMC Ambassador as a model that rolls off the tongue in a flood of satisfaction.

AMC Ambassador — it’s like one of those old, alliteration-addicted British airliners like the Bristol Brabazon or Vickers Vanguard. Actually, one airliner to roll out of the UK at the time was the Airspeed Ambassador, so AMC’s biggest offering had a friend on the other side of the pond.

While we’re not here today to talk about names per se, we are about to delve into wordplay again. What automotive term gets under your skin?

There’s a long list to choose from, but your truly finds himself getting rankled when the going gets poncy, as Corey might say. High-falutin’ words spouted by car nerds and German executives in sharp suits who wouldn’t dare use the term in a dingy bar far from the bright lights of the big city.

Speaking of Corey, “heckblende” is a word our friend uses to annoy this writer. To normal people, this obnoxious term signifies the presence of a full-width taillight assembly, not unlike that found on an Olds Aurora or a 1970 Ford Thunderbird. Don’t ever use this awful word.

There’s now a new and very specialized term struggling to get itself established in written materials pouring out of the Fatherland, and that term is “foot garage.” Coined by Porsche to refer to a pair of indentations in the new Taycan’s underfloor battery pack, these battery dents provide greater real estate for backseat occupants’ feet. In other words, they’re a footwell extension, yet Porsche decided to give this feature a name. And what a name.

I suppose my gloves are hand garages.

Sure, automakers can assign whatever name they want to a new or mildly updated feature; these aren’t industry-wide things with agreed-upon monikers. They’re not rocker or sail panels or spoilers or what have you. Of course, sometimes terms denoting a component, feature or bodystyle differ depending on where you stand geographically. Born into a life of castles and tweed? It’s not a convertible — it’s a drop-head coupe. It’s an estate car, not a wagon. It’s a rev counter, not a tach.

We’ve got names for everything.

It’s now time to use your words to rant and gripe about that particular name, term, or descriptive word found in the auto arena that gets under your skin.

[Image: © 2017 Jeff Wilson/The Truth About Cars]