Plurals, faux-Latin and other terribly important rubbish

[Mr Skid]

I think 'Lexus' comes from the same fertile Japanese imagination that thought that naming a vehicle model the 'Emina' was a good idea.

..my favorite has always been the Toyota Camry 'Exciting Version'.. such a laughable notion..

[Posh Tourer :P]

Which I guess is the same reason why we don't go see rugby in stadia, and spend time on internet forii.

Indeed. Fora. The plural of an -um is -a. The plural of an -us is -i.

I was fully aware (in my defence) that the correct plural of lexus is lexuses. Hence my qualifier "if you follow the same strange logic" (or somethign like that). He was pluralising, not only in the wrong language, but also wrongly in that wrong language!

[LB]

Ok it was cool to call a strong bike a Hyabusa but a bloody toyota shit box a Tercel,,,,

Look it up under "birds of prey"

My understanding (though of course I may well be wrong ) is that a Hyabusa is a Japanese falcon that preys on smaller birds such as a Blackbird.

[Lou Girardin]

The confusion possibly arises from 'lex' being the Latin word for law, statute or covenant, agreement.

Lexis and Lexus, as far as I can tell, are not Latin words. Lexus does appear to be a girl's name also, ie the pRon star Lexus Locklear. Not that I know what pRon is, or have ever watched any...

So mister Random's logic appears sound.

Can I also be a pedant? Guilty as charged.

I think rather than it being a girls name, it's a financial goal.

[Drunken Monkey]

My understanding (though of course I may well be wrong ) is that a Hyabusa is a Japanese falcon that preys on smaller birds such as a Blackbird.

Yes, 'Hyabusa' is romanji (ie an English literation of a Japanese word). We also know it as the Peregrine Falcon. And yes, they do prey on Blackbirds (and other small birds).

[vifferman]

Yes, 'Hyabusa' is romanji (ie an English literation of a Japanese word).

...and pronounced "Eye Abuser".

(It's almost as ugly as a FahrtSturm, y'know.)
However, despite being rather ugly, the EyeAbuser is relatively aerodynamic (see http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0106_aero/) - in fact, it's ugly because it's aerodynamic, eschewing looks in favour of sleekness, unlike the Blackboid and ZX12R.

[MikeL]

There must be obscure psychological/marketing reasons why some bikes are given names and others are just numbers. Cruisers mostly seem to have names but not many sports bikes do - the Hayabusa and Blackbird being notable exceptions. My previous bike was never known in this country by anything other than a model number (GSX1200) but in Europe as well as Japan was called Inazuma (which I think means something to do with storm, lightning or thunder - not sure which)

[Darryboy]

Talking about which,I saw a toyota that looked to be an off shoot of a corolla or some other gutless wonder on the motoway a few days back.
It was called a "Tercel"
Ok it was cool to call a strong bike a Hyabusa but a bloody toyota shit box a Tercel,,,,

Look it up under "birds of prey"

Just did

TIERCEL or TERCEL [TERE-sul]: The male of a hawk or falcon. The term is based on the Latin word for "third," and stems from the fact that male hawks and falcons are usually smaller than the female, often by roughly one-third.

Perhaps they're suggesting it is "insert hawk/falcon attribute that would sell a car here" yet small in size.

[vifferman]

There must be obscure psychological/marketing reasons why some bikes are given names and others are just numbers. Cruisers mostly seem to have names but not many sports bikes do - the Hayabusa and Blackbird being notable exceptions. My previous bike was never known in this country by anything other than a model number (GSX1200) but in Europe as well as Japan was called Inazuma (which I think means something to do with storm, lightning or thunder - not sure which)

Personally, I don't think bikes (and cars) need to have names (although I do like the tank graphics on my FahrtSturm). I think the Japanese like to throw names at them because they look cool to them, regardless of how they sound to us (witness the Nissan "Cedric" and the Toyota "Will", and the aforementioned Emina, or even the cars that don't seem to know what they are, such as the "Emina Estima Exceed"). I reckon they need more appropriate names, like "HeapOShite", and "CrapOnWheels", and "Snail".

Sometimes the names are important to the perceived buyers, like the Honda "Interceptor" name is quite important in the US, as is the Kawasaki "Ninja", even when it seems to be applied en masse to quite disparate models. The VTR1000 is called the SuperHawk in the US because it was a development of the NV650(?) Hawk v-twin, which was very popular there. Similarly, the "RC51" monicker was used there too for the SP1/SP2/SP3 due to its racing implications, even though it's not the official Honda designation. I suspect the reason most of the models we get here have names is due to model recognition/placement in the US and Japan.

[Hitcher]

Lexis and Lexus, as far as I can tell, are not Latin words. Lexus does appear to be a girl's name also, ie the pRon star Lexus Locklear.

Lexus as a person's name is yet another in a long line of events where people have decided that a word already in existance was an appropriate handle for their child. "Tiffany" is another such example.

[Mounts yet another hobby horse] I think that the French have got it right by having an official register of children's given names from which parents can choose. This gets over egotistical parents embarrassing and condemning children to lives of ridicule by being called such things as: Moonbeam, Shania, Clamydia, Sierra Cosworth, Cheyenne or Lleyton; or by dreaming up unnecessarily complex spellings of common names that their offspring will have to endlessly explain to people for the rest of their days...

[Hitcher]

Which I guess is the same reason why we don't go see rugby in stadia, and spend time on internet forii.

Pig latin users what I work with use fora as a plural for forum, rather than forii (which I think relates to multiple spectacle wearers). People who do this should get their ba kicked...

[Hitcher]

Personally, I don't think bikes (and cars) need to have names (although I do like the tank graphics on my FahrtSturm). I think the Japanese like to throw names at them because they look cool to them, regardless of how they sound to us (witness the Nissan "Cedric" and the Toyota "Will", and the aforementioned Emina, or even the cars that don't seem to know what they are, such as the "Emina Estima Exceed"). I reckon they need more appropriate names, like "HeapOShite", and "CrapOnWheels", and "Snail".

My theory is that Japanese car makers have a random word generator that they use to pick names for their vehicles. One day I expect to be stopped at the lights to discover the vehicle immediately in front is a Mazda Clitoris (often licked, never beaten) or a Nissan Vulva Pursuit...

[jrandom]

This gets over egotistical parents embarrassing and condemning children to lives of ridicule by being called such things as: Moonbeam, Shania, Clamydia, Sierra Cosworth, Cheyenne or Lleyton; or by dreaming up unnecessarily complex spellings of common names that their offspring will have to endlessly explain to people for the rest of their days...

I hadn't heard about that French given-name register before. Good idea, but very... French.

I've always argued that there are psychological benefits to be gained from giving children easy-to-spell names that have been well-diluted from any inherent meaning by social popularity over the last several decades or centuries. Hence my kids are Claire and Jacob (which I hear is the current most-popular boy's name on birth registries in either the USA, or the Commonwealth, can't remember which). Claire will, of course, have to go through life saying "with an 'i' AND an 'e'..." but that's not too bad.

Both of them will still have to spell out their surname, though. The only Kiwis and Aussies I've ever met who can pronounce it without careful coaching are gun enthusiasts. (It's "Sauer".)

I cringed, you know, a few weeks back. That Police Ten-Seven program had a segment on armed robberies at the Barry's Pt Bar, up in Barry's Pt Rd. The manager chap who had been robbed at pistol point said that the weapon looked like a SIG "Sayer".

And then they did an "attacker had a pistol like this one" voice-over with a photograph of a fscking *Glock* on the screen.

[vifferman]

Lexus as a person's name is yet another in a long line of events where people have decided that a word already in existance was an appropriate handle for their child. ... or by dreaming up unnecessarily complex spellings of common names that their offspring will have to endlessly explain to people for the rest of their days...

Or make up an entirely new name (and hope it's not the same as some toilet cleaner somewhere).
Ah yes - the Middle-class Ridiculous Name Syndrome, the zenith of which seems to be the weird handles that African-American chilluns are encumbered with.
"Ah..what shall we name the sproglet, Drear?"
"Ah dunno - all the names seem so ORDINARY. We need somethin' riginal. And classy."
"How baht - Zebadecka Grot-Thwam Splatututu? Junior the Third, of course."

A good rule for naming kids (or pets) is to go to the back door, and bellow the intended monicker at the top of your lungs, and see how ridiculous it feels...

We decided on very normal, average old-fashioned names for our kids: Peter, David and Michael. Even then, the kids found it difficult to spell their middle names. Perhaps we could have managed without those...

[Hitcher]

(It's "Sauer".)

So how do you pronounce it? Sower? Sayer? Sawa? Sow?