# Terminal cuteness **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 29, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719 "2020-02-29T22:29:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/1 "2020-02-29T22:29:04Z")
In dinky little vehicles: [Citroën](https://electrek.co/2020/02/28/citroen-ami-cheap-electric-car/) and, even worse, [Microlino](https://electrek.co/2020/02/28/microlineo-bubble-car-electric-scooter-microletta/). I guess they have to make them too cute or no one would buy them. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/2 "2020-02-29T23:14:56Z")
The second one looks like an Isetta. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/3 "2020-03-01T00:19:08Z")
My first personal terminal, a HeathKit H19 [(looking like this)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Heathkit_computer_H88.JPG), was IMHO pretty cute even without spaceship decals. I foresee a future of kawaii-cute vehicles seen as dolls, fuzzy or feathered pets, super-heroes or -villains, celebs, clothing including hats and shoes, sex toys, instruments, tools, etc. Erupting volcanoes cost extra. Meanwhile, let’s return to the post-WWII days when bubblecars shaped like fighter jets menaced European roads. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/4 "2020-03-01T02:11:31Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > My first personal terminal, a HeathKit H19 [(looking like this)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Heathkit_computer_H88.JPG), was IMHO pretty cute even without spaceship decals. Well, I didn’t mean “terminal” literally, but I suppose taking something literally is a long established internet convention, pre-dating the Web, even. Anyway, that terminal reminds me a lot of the Tektronix terminals. I used to work for Tek and they had lots of those all over the company. I never thought of them as cute, though. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/5 "2020-03-01T03:05:00Z")
This goes back at least to the 50’s with the Princess telephone. Designed to be functional, and cuteness is not a bad marketing afterthought. When I was 14, I had already given up the carnival bumper-cars, which I could drive at six. How hard is it to start, steer and stop a little car? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/6 "2020-03-01T04:41:35Z")
Those cars look like something that would lodge in the tread of semi truck tires! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/7 "2020-03-01T06:33:08Z")
IIRC an early SNL skit defined “Terminal Cuteness” as _Shirley Temple Syndrome_." ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/8 "2020-03-01T12:43:17Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > In dinky little vehicles: [Citroën](https://electrek.co/2020/02/28/citroen-ami-cheap-electric-car/) and, even worse, [Microlino](https://electrek.co/2020/02/28/microlineo-bubble-car-electric-scooter-microletta/). I guess they have to make them too cute or no one would buy them. Or something like that. As near as I can tell, the bodywork on that Citroën is perfectly symmetrical. The left front fender is the same as the right rear fender. That means half the molds and tooling of a conventional car body. I suspect the cuteness is a by-product of an attempt to keep production costs low. Attach some white lights on one end, red on the other (and a few other things) and you’re good to go. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/9 "2020-03-01T13:04:03Z")
From the link in the OP: > [@](#): > > Another advantage (or risk depending on how you look at it) is that in some places, you won’t even need a driver’s license to get behind the wheel of an Ami. Yep, that’s terminal. It’s bad enough here 14 year olds with cat M license (only theory, not practical test) who are allowed to drive scooters on the road. They are a menace as the fully licensed car driver has to compensate for their cluelessness. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terminal-cuteness/848719/10 "2020-03-02T14:40:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As near as I can tell, the bodywork on that Citroën is perfectly symmetrical. The left front fender is the same as the right rear fender. That means half the molds and tooling of a conventional car body. I suspect the cuteness is a by-product of an attempt to keep production costs low. That’s exactly what they did. Even the driver’s and passenger’s doors are the same.