# Understanding Car Emblems **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434 "2000-04-24T03:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/1 "2000-04-24T03:32:00Z")
Okay, I’m reasonably bright. So other people tell me. I’m not entirely symbolically clueless. But for some reason I’ve been totally slow in figuring out some of the newer car emblems. By newer, I mean post 1980. I mean I figured out Toyota’s “T” from the interlocking ovals. But some others took a while. Saturn has been around for, what, 15 yrs? I even own one. So why did it take me till a few months ago to figure out what the emblem was? I was trying to make it some sort of backwards cursive “S” zoomed in or something. Finally it dawned on me - IT’S A RINGED PLANET!!! Infinity - I was confused that they didn’t go with the obvious symbol - the sideways “8”. I mean it seemed a natural to me, but they went with the oval with the two lines up from the middle. It dawned on me recently, those lines represent the road, running off into the infinity of the horizon, like a perspective thing. Doh! Mazda has their new emblem, the circle with the squiggle line accross it, kind like a sideways “}”. If you look at it right, the squiggle mixes with the sides of the circle to make an “M”. Ahhhhh. Has anyone else out there been befuddled, bemused, or just plain lost over a car emblem? Please tell me I’m not alone. Please? ---
**Author:** ![Lawmill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lawmill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawmill)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/2 "2000-04-24T05:09:00Z")
I’d guess that automakers want a symbol that’s easily recognizable but very unique in the minds of consumers. Nissan doesn’t have a symbol, and Mitsubishi’s tridiamond doesn’t make much sense. That said, here are two that confuse me: Toyota MR2-Why does my little sportscar have Subaru-It reminds me of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ helmets. Does the word “Subaru” mean something in Japanese?an eagle on the hood badge? ---
**Author:** ![Lawmill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lawmill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawmill)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/3 "2000-04-24T05:11:00Z")
Aargh, cut and paste catastrophe. MR2-Why does my sportscar have an eagle on the hood badge. The eagle has nothing to do with the car’s name or advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/4 "2000-04-24T09:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Lawmill: > **Does the word “Subaru” mean something in Japanese?** The first car my wife and I had was a miniature Subaru in which we decided to drive from Rhode Island to Disney World for our honeymoon in the middle of June. About halfway through the trip, we decided that Subaru obviously meant “little white car with no air-conditioning.” * * * Saint Eutychus _H.M.S.H._ _" ‘He is a prince’ , the minstrels sing. Among men, yes. Among fools he is a king."_ [Disney Shorts](http://www.disneyshorts.org) [The Eutychus Papers](http://members.aol.com/eutychus55) ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/5 "2000-04-24T09:59:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Mitsubishi’s tridiamond doesn’t make much sense. Guess what “Mitsubishi” means in Japanese? That’s right, it means _three diamonds_. No kidding. DHR ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/6 "2000-04-24T10:07:00Z")
Well, lets see. Ford is quite obvious. The Chevy bowtie is non-sensical. The Dogde Ram has been around for quite sometime, I’m not sure it relates the way you’ve mentioned. Honda is a not-so-well disguised “H” Acura (Honda’s luxo line) is basically a squished “H” with the top nearly pinched making a clear “A” _Side Note_: Do the Japanese cars go by the same name, with the same badge in Japan? Do they use a different alphabet? I wonder… Most American cars have non-sensical badges. Corvette simply a elaborate checker flag, likely to play up the race car aspect. I’m not sure where many of the manes come from like Cadillac, Pontiac, Buick, Chrystler. I imagine many are mens names and as such the badge has little to reference. Ditto Mercedes. The disguised letter seems to be a Japanese thing. Maybe the Italian and German cars are based of family coats of arms or regional flags? Topic sounds like it could (and may have been) be a interesting (or at least original) book. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/7 "2000-04-24T12:20:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Mazda has their new emblem, the circle with the squiggle line accross it, kind like a sideways “}”. If you look at it right, the squiggle mixes with the sides of the circle to make an “M”. Ahhhhh. I’m pretty sure that Mazda’s current badge was redesigned when the old one was found to be too similar to Toyota’s “two-ovals-make-a-‘T’”. Even as a Mazda owner, I sometimes had trouble remembering which was which. (The older Mazda badge looked something like an Egyptian _ankh_ without the arms – a circle on top of a stick). The current one seems intended to suggest both an “M” (vaguely) and a bird in flight (also vaguely). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/8 "2000-04-24T12:24:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Guess what “Mitsubishi” means in Japanese? > > That’s right, it means three diamonds. No kidding. ## Do you have a cite for that? IIRC, “san” is three; “shi” is four (but “yon” is more popular for “four”). “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/9 "2000-04-24T12:56:00Z")
My Peugeot’s badge is a prancing lion. I suppose they want us all to believe this is the King of Cars 😉 Another interesting one: the BMW logo is actually a propellor, stemming from the time the factory made plane engines exclusively, back in the 1910’s or so. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/10 "2000-04-24T13:04:00Z")
I believe the newest Mazda emblem is supposed to be a bird (the sideways “}”). * * * You must unlearn what you have learned. – Yoda ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/11 "2000-04-24T13:07:00Z")
Yamaha uses three tuning forks, arranged like the Mercedes star, becuase it made (makes) musical instruments. I’ve been trying to figure out what the name means. “Yama” is “mountain”. “Ha” is “leaf”, “tooth” or “sabre”. Has anyone seen how it’s written in Japanese and have the ability to translate? ## (Incidentally, “Suzuki” is “sea bass”; “Kawasaki” is “the lower part of the river” {“downstream”?) and as near as I can figure, “Honda” means “it’s the best”. I’m pretty sure the products were all taken from surnames, like “Ford”.) “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/12 "2000-04-24T22:14:00Z")
Volvo uses the male gender symbol (circle with an arrow protruding up from the top). I’m thinkin’ they must be a manly bunch of automakers. * * * “My hovercraft is full of eels.” ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_G7subs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85e7bf/32.png) [@Rich\_G7subs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_G7subs)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/13 "2000-04-24T22:19:00Z")
The blue and white BMW emblem is supposed to represent the front view of a spinning airplane propeller. * * * Rich “G7SUBS” ---
**Author:** ![Suo\_Na](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Suo\_Na](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suo_Na)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/14 "2000-04-24T22:20:00Z")
So can anyone explain why Cadillac (I think it’s Cadillac) has rubber duckies? ## Seems kind of juvenile for a luxury car. Only you can prevent solipsism. ---
**Author:** ![robbaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a4c791/32.png) [@robbaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robbaba)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/15 "2000-04-24T22:38:00Z")
\<\\> As I recall Subaru is a constellation. It is also the Japanese word for “unite”. The stars on the logo represent the Subaru constallation. See here: [http://www.cometman.com/funstuff.html](http://www.cometman.com/funstuff.html) for details * * * “It’s like banging your head against a wall because it feels so good when you stop.” ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/16 "2000-04-24T22:56:00Z")
IIRC, Subaru was formed after the merger of six automakers. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/17 "2000-04-24T23:30:00Z")
Yes, Mitsubishi means ‘three diamonds.’ “-tsu” is the suffix for counting miscellaneous inanimate objects, and just about every number is irregular when counting them. As best as I can romanize, it goes: hitotsu one hutatsu two mitsu three yottsu four itutsu five muttsu six nanatsu seven yattsu eight kokonotsu nine too ten Source: two years of Japanese as an undergrad, plus _Japanese: The Spoken Language_ bye Eleanor Harz Jorden and Mari Noda. ---
**Author:** ![Kiva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@Kiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiva)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/18 "2000-04-25T04:57:00Z")
Robbaba wrote: > [@](#): > > As I recall Subaru is a constellation. It is also the Japanese word for “unite”. The stars on the logo represent the Subaru constallation. I believe the constellation in question is the Pleiades. MaxTorque wrote: > [@](#): > > hitotsu one > hutatsu two > mitsu three > yottsu four > itutsu five > muttsu six > nanatsu seven > yattsu eight > kokonotsu nine > too ten [hijack]I just finished forgetting this system. Why don’t the Japanese just use ONE set of numbers for counting? Ichi, ni, san, yon, go, roku, shichi, hachi kyu, ju–instead of this “tsu” system? Not to mention the -mai, -pon, -kai, -hai etc, etc counters. And seperate numbers for every day of the month?![/hijack] ::sigh:: don’t mind me; I’m just a disgruntled first year student. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/19 "2000-04-25T05:44:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Omniscient: > **_Side Note_: Do the Japanese cars go by the same name, with the same badge in Japan? Do they use a different alphabet? I wonder…** Actually, there is no Acura in Japan. The entire Acura line in the US are all known as Hondas in Japan. Some of the models have different names as well. But the same “H” emblem is used. The same with Toyota and Nissan. There is no Lexus and there is no Infiniti. An example would be the Lexus SC300 and SC400. These are their US names, but in Japan, they go by the name Toyota Soarer. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434/20 "2000-04-25T06:14:00Z")
I don’t know if it is because I’m a girl, but I never even realized that all those symbols actually mean anything. Maybe they should make them a little more obvious for the likes of me. On the subject of Japanese I was only taught the ichi ni san… system of counting. How many do they need? As if trying to learn hiragana, katakana & kanji weren’t enough to make me quit after the second year. Sheesh. * * * Life Before Death. Why wait? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understanding-car-emblems/16434.md?page=2)