Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Petrol head's corner

The latest issue of RoyalAuto, the official magazine of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, contains a review of the Citroen Cactus, a compact SUV. A cursory reading of car review websites shows that it's unanimously praised as being a good car.

The copy on Citroen's website says that the name was chosen because just like a cactus plant that doesn't need much water, this car has excellent fuel economy, and it also has bump protection similar to the thorns on a cactus. Its name is presumably also supposed to be suggestive to potential buyers that this is the sort of vehicle that can comfortably handle driving in rugged conditions and deserts.

When whoever who is responsible for naming products at Citroen decided upon the name "Cactus," I wonder if they realised that in Australia, this is also a slang word meaning dead, useless, or broken?

http://www.citroen.com.au/new-car/c4-cactus/?gclid=CIPGjvGYvMkCFVgnvQodOdsDgw

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/218294/why-do-aussies-use-cactus-to-mean-dead-useless-or-broken

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