NATIONAL NAME YOUR CAR DAY

October 2 is National Name Your Car Day.  Whadda ya mean--you don't name your cars?  I have learned that nearly all people who name their cars choose feminine names.  

The top car names are "Betsy", "Bessie", "Baby", "Betty", "Bertha", "The Beast", "Buddy", "Big Red", "Sally, "Lucy", "Fred", and "Stella";  I wondered about the prevalence of  the names beginning with the letter "B".

I also wondered what criteria others used when choosing names for their vehicles as I have no particular method;  I just choose whatever inspires me at the moment.  I bestowed "Flechette" on the Dodge Dart because I had been listening to audio tapes of French as I was hoping to learn the language (and as my brother says, I like to "Frenchify everything").  The convertible was named "Jay" for Jay Sebring.  We chose "Louis" for the Corvette because of Louis Chevrolet, but debated whether to name it "Billy" for Billy Durant.  Later, after I gave Gerald a book on the history of the Corvette, he mused that we should have named it "Premo" for the designer Ellis James Premo.

Years ago, my sister-in-law told Gerald she was having trouble with her new car "Vickie";  Gerald said he didn't know she'd gotten a Crown Victoria.  She answered, "Oh, no, she's JUST a Vickie!", as if that was understandable.

My brother makes fun of me and others for naming inanimate objects.  Cars aren't the only inanimate objects I name.  We had two beautiful birch trees and we lost "Robert Frost" last year;  I named it that to honor Frost and his poem Birches.  Another birch tree died and Les said that I shouldn't have named it "John" after John Birch!

One of my roses this year was named The Rose Of Tralee and one of the lilies was named Lili Marlene.

When I told my brother that I was having a problem with "Amelia", he winced and said, "Please tell me you didn't name the computer!"

However, when discussing the weather, all of the family will chime in with, "What does ARTHUR say?"  I thought that everyone used that phrase, but when I commented recently about the unseasonably hot weather, saying, "ARTHUR said it was 90 degrees!", a person asked, "What channel is he on?" and I screaked in delight, "OUR THERMOMETER!"