Having a car on campus for the past two years has really changed my perception of our four-wheeled friends.  Bold statement, I know, but consider this:  you live on North Campus your freshman year, with a select sprinkling of your class having cars.  The only exposure you have to current music, in the form of radio stations, is via car, which you rarely ride in your freshman year.  Not having a car also deems you virtually directionless anywhere outside of campus:  Routes 79, 96, 13, don’t exactly ring a bell.  The second you come home for winter break, driving seems so foreign.  I’m not ashamed to admit that moving quicker than walking pace freaked me out the first few days back home.

Aside from the practical perks of having a car, one thing that we miss out on is car naming.  I drove a silver minivan in high school named Linus.  However, my naming scheme has changed from just “liking” a name (Did you know that Linus actually means “flax”? Right.) to coming up with witty and creative names based on one’s license plate letter and number permutation.

For example:  My friend Danny’s license plate is DXT ####.  The name that first comes to mind is “Dexter”.  How apropos that Danny enjoys watching the show “Dexter” on Showtime, and that Danny sometimes wears glasses that kind of remind me of Dexter’s Laboratory.

Another few examples:  Adam’s license plate is CVZ ####. This is not meant to offend anyone, but the name we came up with was “Chavez”.  Even my friend Hannah, with license plate RJY ###, can come up with “Ray Jay” as her car’s name.Take it as you may, but these consonants all fit well into the naming scheme.

My license plate?  TNM ###.  No cutesy names here.  Tannym, Tennyam, all seem to be far stretches and don’t roll off the tongue as easily.  The only one that fits seems to be–Tsunami.

“That’s not a real name.”
“Well, at least it sounds intimidating.”