Car names - verb or noun or ???

[AW111]

So we have nouns:
Ford Falcon / Mustang etc.

We have verbs:
Ford Focus

We have boring descriptions, although they always sound better in Italian:
Maserati four door eight cyinder.


What orher categories?

[Mr Penguin]

Directions - Up

[AW111]

Mr Penguin said:

Directions - Up

Good pick. The internet says Up is an adverb.

[andrebar]

Adjectives - Mini

[AW111]

andrebar said:

Adjectives - Mini

And also Maxi.

Nissan Micra almost squeezes in as a prefix - I'll just go grab my micrameter.

[Mr Penguin]

AW111 said:

Good pick. The internet says Up is an adverb.

Depends on how it's used, it can be one of several types.

[AW111]

Mr Penguin said:

AW111 said:

Good pick. The internet says Up is an adverb.

Depends on how it's used, it can be one of several types.

English is tricksy that way.

Transit (Ford) fits a few categories too.

[Roofless Toothless]

AW111 said:

Good pick. The internet says Up is an adverb.

And focus is a verb and a noun.

[minimalist]

Numbers

911
Mini 'One' if only words are allowed

Also proper nouns:
Ibiza
Portofino
Fangio

Edited by minimalist on Saturday 6th April 10:20

[AW111]

I hadn't thought of proper nouns - that would be most Ferraris then?

[kambites]

I think the huge majority are nouns (either proper or common) or numbers. In my mind "Focus" has always been the noun form of the word.

Of course some are just made up from munged together words or sounds and don't mean anything. The Hyundai Velostar and Ioniq, for example.

Edited by kambites on Saturday 6th April 10:51

[Baldchap]

All Seats are proper nouns.

[kambites]

Baldchap said:

All Seats are proper nouns.

Hasn't always been the case though, they used to use numbers.

[Baldchap]

kambites said:

Baldchap said:

All Seats are proper nouns.

Hasn't always been the case though, they used to use numbers.

Qué? The earliest I remember is probably an Ibiza. What came before?

[kambites]

Baldchap said:

Qué? The earliest I remember is probably an Ibiza. What came before?

I think they started out in the 50s with the SEAT 1400. Not sure when they switched to using proper nouns.

[AW111]

Baldchap said:

Qué? The earliest I remember is probably an Ibiza. What came before?

This is one of the few instances where Qué is absolutely the appropriate word.

[Pica-Pica]

AW111 said:

So we have nouns:
Ford Falcon / Mustang etc.

We have verbs:
Ford Focus

We have boring descriptions, although they always sound better in Italian:
Maserati four door eight cyinder.


What orher categories?

Focus can also be noun. These type of words are called verbnouns. Occur in many languages, especially Celtic.
Ferrari, means ‘blacksmith’.

[kambites]

Pica-Pica said:

Ferrari, means ‘blacksmith’.

It's funny how names we immediately associate with relatively high-end cars turn out to mean quite mundane things. For example a "Corvette" is a small girly basket if you go back far enough.

[Glassman]

Quality - Hyundai: Pony.

[andyalan10]

Irony - Daihatsu Applause