What's In a Name?

Contenders:

 Music

1.  “Wet Leg”-the British indie rock group, which appears to only have two members-both female and possibly other incognito personnel. Their first album was entitled, “Moisturiser”. This one is self-titled, so very wet legs, or maybe just dreams. There are strong, conflicting, feminist themes with commentary on body image, love, interesting flexible relationships and, of course, martial arts.
2. "Nathaniel Ratcliff and The Night Sweats”-an R&B band with heavy Country and    Western soul. You can guess what a song called “Heartless” conjures up as the fate for its character/victim.
3. “The Bangs”-this was the original name for the all women group “The Bangles”. I’m not sure what image they were promoting here-maybe content, intent or market driven.

 Cars

 1.     Nissan Cedric: sort of a Japanese Humber. Something, or a great deal may be lost in translation. Possibly a random choice from a Japanese manager with absolutely no knowledge of English.

2.     Prince Gloria: connected in heritage to what would become part of Nissan. An interesting tribute to America’s grand cars-think big and chrome. The Prince Skyline GT-Bwas a Neolithic ancestor of the Nissan GT-R.

3.     Suzuki Cappuccino: about the same size as an expresso machine. Its dimensions were to comply with the kei car regulation which dictated size limits for registration advantage. I guess that these cars would be suited to a megalopolis city like Tokyo or in a Scalextric place. This firm also produces a vehicle named “Tanto” which would hopefully, be well-mannered.

4.      Diahatsu had some interesting design challenges and names such as the “Rocky” which intimated a companion, compact SUV for semi -tough off-roading.

5.     What about a Honda “Joy Machine” and what might its accessories be?

6.     VW Tiguan: a combination, portmanteau ,of the German word for tiger (speed and power) and an iguana (sleek design).

There are so many other names such as the Nissan Silvia which doesn’t really conjure up a macho, quite capable turbo car, more so a nice lady’s car. Another theory is that the Japanese do have a sense of humour and such names amuse them. Anyway they are much better with numbers like 240Z or 200SX which have a more substantial imagining and a mechanical cue.

 But what’s in a name, anyway.

- 3 Pedals