The kids are on spring break this week, and it’s been breaking 60 degrees here in Pittsburgh all of a sudden. With warm weather finally on the scene, we’re close to rolls, and with rolls, we’re close to new buggies. Back in my day as a head mechanic, building buggies was challenging, but finding a good name for them was next to impossible. It’s tough to sum up all those efforts and all those ambitions. It’s easy to end up with something that is so random that it doesn’t mean anything to anyone. Maybe even worse though are names that are so obvious that they’ve already been used. Are there some names that are good enough to use more than once?
Click through to vote and see the results
Which of these reused names was good enough to justify the reuse?
- Nemesis - TX '87, PiKA '09 (29%, 14 Votes)
- Phoenix - DU '??, KDR '87, PiKA '99 (21%, 10 Votes)
- Pandora - KDR '92, SigEp '06 (13%, 6 Votes)
- Renaissance - KDR '86, CIA '09 (13%, 6 Votes)
- Cyclone - DTD '79, PiKA '92 (8%, 4 Votes)
- Mirage - KapSig '79, CIA '00 (8%, 4 Votes)
- Scorpion - SN '75, Pioneers '98 (6%, 3 Votes)
- Genesis - Spirit '86, SigEp '00 (2%, 1 Votes)
- Pegasus - ZBT '77, Spirit '86, Pioneers '02 (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 48
Buggy names that were essentially reused by the same organization were not included. Of course, there might be some I’ve missed, these are just the ones we have in our history database of buggies. If you know of others, let us know in the comments.
McCue says:
Since the DU buggy doesn’t have a year I can pretend it doesn’t exist, and call KDR the most originalingest fraternity. That is to say, copied the most times.
(Wow you guys are onto something — adding -ingest to the end of words is fun)
Lemuroid says:
Missed a few
Yama bachi (zoo 85) vs. bachi ( fringe)
the zoo’s pope Jackson was also called nemesis and was born on the same year as tx’s version (our alumni changed the name for me). I favor the original in all cases.
bordick says:
I believe there was a “Pork Barrel” or a “Flying Pork Barrel” (not to be confused with the Flying Buttress) that should be resurrected. Also, Pandora was a repeat (and is a fine line of jewelry).
I think those who build the most buggies are most likely to have repeats. I think there are enough good names out there to avoid repeats. However, there are so many bad names that we should make a Hall of Shame.
mccue says:
Pandora is in the poll.
Best buggy name: King of Spades. I think most SigNu names are inspired
Best buggy name the actives never used that starts with a P and I came up with: Pale Horse
Worst buggy name: Schadenfreude
Names that have more than one word are my favorite. Rebel Yell, KoS, Golden Goose, King Solomon, etc.
Anonymous says:
Couple more:
Dark Star – CIA and DTD
Valkyrie – TX and Pioneers
tommyk says:
Only at CMU would a buggy that shares a name with the worst Star Trek movie of all time get 7 votes.
How come there isn’t a ‘none of the above’ category?
tommyk says:
I don’t know much Japanese but the internets tell me Yama-bachi means “mountain pot” (why would Zoo pick this I wonder?) and Bachi used on its own means “retribution” … any native Japanese that can illuminate the difference?
bordick says:
I agree with McCue. Multiple word names are best. I would like to see more thoroughbred names.
Some suggestions:
“Keyster blowing in the wind”
“Billy’s in the Cat House (B.I.T.C.H.)”
“Stewie’s New Toy”
“Andy’s Amorphous Anomaly”
Aliteration works well here.
P.S. Yeah, I missed Pandora. I’m old.
Carleton says:
Phoenix is the only one that makes any logical sense, although on that vein, Renaissance is the next most logical.
Carl says:
Genesis was the first buggy Spirit built (hence the name). Pegasus was purchased by Spirit from ZBT and was not renamed.
kkeir says:
Schadenfreude is one of my favorite buggy names, I name my fantasy football team that now. It describes buggy perfectly satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune. Who involved in buggy hasn’t laughed at a competitors spin-out, chute crash, or push bar miss? Of course I really prefer buggies named after Pearl Jam songs but who does that nowadays?
Lemuroid says:
Godzilla (PKA) and Schadenfreude (PKT) are my favorite names of all time.
vapor (TX) gets the bronze
Carl says:
Vicious Flow is probably my favorite name. The Zoo has some excellent names tho. Always loved Okapi.
mccue says:
Final Frontier was EASILY the worst star trek movie ever made, followed by Insurrection. Come on, Tommy.
Are there any interesting stories behind these names? I know a few funny rumors surrounding SN names (King and Ju in particular). Powder was always fun to see in print. Chimera I always just assumed went with the whole “hybrid” thing (since it looked like Banyan).
the cook says:
The intention with Yama Bachi was “mountain bee” or “mountain hornet”, as a tribute to the great Hornet of the 70’s (winner 1974). I’m not sure the translation really works. More approrpiate would have been “mountain slow”
I personally like Pope Jackson and the great buggy shirt that came with it.
KOS name is very nice and it has to be one of the few, and perhaps the only, buggy that has remained competitive at that advanced age, as witnessed by 4 chute passes in the last 3 years.
Lemuroid says:
I would agree with the cook, both the pope and yama-bachi were slow. However, they looked great doing it). They never could hang with their cruder but faster siblings: colugo, jerboa, or even lemur). We could have written a book of what not to do from those 2 buggies and KOS reflects well upon upon what they taught us (apparently forgotten after it was built).
I would be interested in hearing mcCue’s version of the kos story. I was there ( possibly the first to utter those words) and my version would cure insomnia.
tommyk says:
The more intimidating the name … the less I expect from the buggy.
random name trivia: Basketcase was named for the experimental layup techniques we tried with it. It’s a good song too.
Aman says:
DTD’s buggy was named Psyclone, definitely snazzier than Cyclone…
Abby says:
Fav name: Kufa Haraka. I like it because it has a dual translation from Swahili. It either means “deadly speed” or it means that you are wishing that someone would die quickly.
Abby says:
I also have hear stories about how KOS came to be. I would be interested to hear the real one.