Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Rocinante, Ghost Dancing and the Prius

it occurred to me this morning before i hit the road that there is a tradition of naming the vehicle that you take on any extended road trip. Steinbeck named his pickup camper Rocinate after Don Quixote's loyal horse and least Heat-Moon named his van Ghost Dancing to reflect his native American heritage. What should i name my blue prius?
Toyota choose the name prius from the Latin meaning "to come before" or "precede" to
indicate i guess that the hybrid technology would precede the next generation of new
energy resource innovation. maybe something like fusion ( i heard a story about that on NPR yesterday- the joke is Fusion is the energy resource of the future and always will be) . Maybe i should call the blue prius BLUE with a nod to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell who have great songs Tangled up in Blue and Blue ( a favorite album of mine).
or how about Maggie from "I'm not gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more" hinting at a true embracing of retirement. Not to forget the Beatles how about LIBby from (Let It Be -a stretch?) a suggestion of the "winging it" nature of this trip with an implied acceptance of things as they are. or leaving music i kinda of like WALDO after Where in the world is Waldo and the transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson because i like his worldview or the great pantheist SPINOZA. I won't name it Arthur after Schopenhauer though i like his Eastern influenced philosophy where he references the Brahman phrase Tat Tvam Asi meaning Thou art that or You are that too suggesting the unity of all things. It reminds me of the Buddhist phrase "where ever you go there you are". Calling the car Arthur may cause me an identity crisis. Or i could call it Walt after Song of the Open Road Whitman.
The pruis is what they call a smart car. It has key less entry, shuts the gas engine off when stopped and (if you name it) will come when you call. So being that i could call it Edison or Einstein (famous smart guys). Is there a joke with the punchline "any more bright ideas, Edison?"? Hopefully not.
Maybe I should follow the native American way of waiting and watching then let the prius choose its own name or perhaps i should follow the contemporary fashion and decide by Internet polling.
OK! Here are the choices :
1) Blue
2) Maggie
3) Libby
4) Waldo
5) Walt
6) Einstein
7) Spinoza
8) open for suggestions.
note: i immediately dismissed Roy Rodgers side-kick Pat Brady's car name because i can still hear his annoying voice cry " don't fail me now Nellie Belle".

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