My first truck was called Puddles. I did a lot of off road/jeeping/4-wheeling in it. Always going through massive ‘puddles’. And it did leak a little oil. So it became Puddles.
My second truck I just bought a few years ago. It was used and had street tires on it. It got snowy right after I bought it, and I didn’t dare drive it with those tires. It took a lot of willpower to not drive my new to me truck until I could get some decent rubber on it (it’s a pretty cool truck). It’s name is now William. Or Will for willpower.
A tractor I bought is now named Button. It’s orange in color. Hmmm. Navel oranges are of course orange in color. Hmmm… navel… belly button. So my new tractor is named ‘Button’. Button will be getting worked out today moving snow. Just waiting for things to warm up a bit.
I have an old car that I named ‘Damn It’. The name should be on the title. The circuitry in the ignition key slot is worn and sometimes trips the anti-theft system causing lock down for a few minutes.
I don’t, but I used to know a guy who wrote a song about his car… I don’t remember much of the song, but the first lines were:
“I have a Mitsubishi Precis, it’s a piece of feces”
Never have. Not my boats, motorcycles, or even my airplane.
I don’t know why not. It just never seemed to make sense to me. It was always the plane, or my cycle, or our car. Looking back, I’ve just never named inanimate objects. Animals, yes. But not things.
Not that I didn’t have affection for some of them. Giving up the plane was a wrenching experience. And I do recalling thinking “so long, old gal”. But that’s as far as it ever went.
I just remembered: I used to have a Chevy Citation that I spray-painted with gray primer after most of the original paint had rusted off. All the guys at work called it The Gray Ghost. They were a great buncha fellahs.
(I apologize to the user here that goes by TGG–no disrespect intended.)
Only one, an old British car. I called it Bertie after Wooster because it always started and Bertie always described his cars as “faithful as an Arab steed.”
I don’t, and I don’t really understand the idea of it.
I mean, I get if your car is old and red, you might call it “Old Red” or some such nickname that has to do with color or condition of car. What I don’t understand is people searching for the right name to fit their car’s personality or whatever, like they would if they were trying to choose a name for a dog or a cat.
I don’t. I remember years ago a female caller on Car Talk referred to her car by a name, prompting a short side discussion on why women name their cars but men don’t. I’ve found that to be mostly true, but I can think of at least two male acquaintances who named theirs. (And lots of women who don’t.)
I believe the nationality of the auto should be reflected in the name, so I had a Fiat whose name was Sophia. Fiat #2 (yes, I’m a punishment glutton) was Gina. A VW was Gretchen.
My Toyota was Teri (short for Teriyaki). A Ford was Henry, and the Honda is Teri #2.
We don’t name cars, although I occasionally will urge my truck up a hill with “C’mon ole Bessie, you can do it.”
Likewise, we didn’t name any of our airplanes.
But boats we take seriously. For the name of our latest, we chose a Catalan reference to one of the Mediterranean winds. Before the naming, we had to start with a ceremonial removal of the old name. This de-naming involved removing all papers, keychains and documents referring to its former name and sinking a metal plate with that old name painted on it while asking Poseidon to purge all references to <old name> from his rolls forever. Next step was appealing to each of the Greek wind gods in turn for their favor (and pouring champagne in their direction while saying the new name), then a final appeal to Poseidon to allow the namesake wind to watch over her and spare her from the scourge of his… (you get the idea). We ended with a final toast among the participants, poured the remainder of the champagne from the bow for Poseidon, and pulled the cover off the stern to show her new name.
I’ve spent a lot of time on the ocean and been thru a few horrific storms. I don’t mess around with Poseidon.