So what is yours called?

[UKRay]

I'm talking about the way I give inanimate objects names... am I alone?

I find it hard to own any kind of machine without giving it a name. My old Pilot sewing machine was called Biggles (look it up on Google if you haven't heard of Biggles before), My old van was called Ermyntrude after the cow in the Magic Roundabout (it was a cow to start most mornings) and the GPS in the car is called Gloria for no reason at all. Don't ask me why, I just can't help it.

Is anyone else like me - do you give your vehicles, sewing machines and random bits of electronic equipment names or am I completely barking mad and entirely on my own? Surely some of you 'slightly unusual' folk in the US do this?

Maybe this thread is what the men in the white coats have been waiting for!

[hidepounder]

I have names for both of my sewing machines, however, as this is a family type forum I should probably refrain from posting them!

[HorsehairBraider]

I name goats, rabbits, horses - and vehicles too. And then some things don't have names so much as titles - "The Purple Truck", "BOB" (which was short for "Bucket of Bolts") etc. I call my vulcanizer "Seaview" because it has a large round handle on top which reminds me of being in a sub etc.

And if you're wondering what a vulcanizer is, here's a picture - vulcanizer

So, UKRAY - you are not alone. I too am barking mad.

[tashabear]

In a moment of hubris, I named my swivel knife Sharpy McSlicealot.

All my electronics have Norse or Norse-related names. My Kindle, for example, is Runestone, my two favorite external hard drives are Ask and Embla, and my laptop is Ratatosk. There are others; those are just the highlights.

My spinning wheels are Patience (my first wheel) and Polly (Polly Portable, it folds up for transport).

And my motorcycle is named Boudicca. :-) I know a guy who named his bike Gullinbursti.

You mean not everyone does this?

[wildrose]

Car names, there's a list. We had one Bel Air we used to call Big Blue. Then we hit a deer with it, and renamed it Deerslayer!

[scottishshoemaker]

My singer sewing machine is called Peril. Peril's a singer da da da da.

[Luke Hatley]

RAY MY MACHINES ARE CALLED SEWING MACHINES. LT WEIGHT- MED WEIGHT-

HEAVY WEIGHT SEWING MACHINES.

BUT LET ONE OF THE SKIP A STICH OR RUN OUT OF BOBBIN THREAD,

EVEN IF IT IT MY FAULT I'LL CALL THEM---****##!!!!???. that usually makes me feel better

Edited March 24, 2009 by Luke Hatley

[tonyc1]

Ray, you really need to get more friends! Join a club or something, or even get a parrot. One shouldn't talk to inanimate objects.

Tony.

[carr52]

I use to raise rabbits. I named them Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

Tom

[tonyc1]

I use to raise rabbits. I named them Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

Tom

Some friends had 2 calves they called, Fillet and Mignon!

Tony.

[Hilly]

Ray, don't you think it would be more appropriate to ask this in the adult section?

[rhall]

I feel alot better after reading your post Ray..maybe there is no normal?

[Jordan]

One that comes to mind is a toy I had in the seventies, one of those wooden cup and ball on a string games, from a trip to mexico that I barely remember. I named it Ka-Chink-Bop because if you got the ball in the cup it made a kachink sound and if you got frustrated and hit someone on the head......you guessed it BOP! .

[UKRay]

Quite right too, Hidepounder. You keep that stuff to yourself!

Tashabear, we have to stick together here. You too Holly and Horsehairbraider. Some of the people on here are weird!

...and I'm not altogether sure about you Scottishshoemaker... what you said was pretty weird too!!!

Tony, I don't talk to the things, they just have to have names... nice names...

I might have guessed that cousin Luke would lower the tone of things, and as for you Tom, well I don't know! Those poor rabbits...

Hilly, I can't imagine what you mean.

rhall - I'm not altogether sure if that is a compliment or not but I did laugh!

Jordan, you are patently 'one of us'!

Edited March 25, 2009 by UKRay

[TwinOaks]

Ray, the habit of naming inanimate things doesnt' seem so bad. I'd only start to worry if you start hearing the tools in the shop talking about you as an inanimate object.

....and stay out of the faerie rings.

[Suze]

Oh the "things we have named" over the years

A DeSoto car when I was little was named........Hernando

the two 49 Oldsmobiles were Sally and Billy

we have a stich on our regular sewing machine that has been dubbed "evil stich" (It is a lock stich that sews two stiches forward then one back - two forward, one back) be VERY sure that is WHERE you want your seam. EvilStich is the "Polite term" for it when you have to rip it out -- the others are not repeatable, nor very ladylike >grin<

somehow the dress form is named Lulubelle

I have a halloween decoration that is a Raven - named Poe (a friend has two of them as well and they are - wait for it - Edger and Allen)

the skull (plastic) is Yorick

the castle walls that I painted on sheets has been dubbbed Box-O-Castle (Port-O-Castle is where you go to pee)

Ok I admit it - I'm wierd - and I have some Weird family (Hi Johanna.....)

Hernando was her Grandmothers car when I was little......I think her MOM named it that.

[SunshineNative]

Whew. Ya'll make me feel like a featherweight! I don't have the classiest of names- but everything is named! My first car was a female, she was a 1968 Buick Skylark. Her name was Bessie. One of the worst moments of my teen life was when Bessie got "sick" and I had to leave her at the "hospital" overnight with the picture of her with her mouth open and tongue hanging out haunting me in my dreams. (Hospital was the garage. Mouth open means the hood was up.) It is now 41 years later, she (Bessie) sits in the garage to this day. We take saturday night drives out occassionally, make it to a show - so she can visit "folks" her own age and just keep a low profile. I am 18, with 33 years experience and I now drive a little fellow named Harry Honda. He is a cute and a loverly 4x4. Over the years we have worn out Kitty Cadillac, Bucky the wonder Scout, we even had a Freddie Cougar, and a few more.

Now, with this long diatribe I just know ya'll don't want to hear about my 6 (yes, six) sewing machines and their long and stitch-riddled life. Oh no- don't even get me started on my gun collection-whew! The story those bad boys could tell would have you biting bullets!

Live Long! Laugh often!

Dianne

Edited March 25, 2009 by SunshineNative

[whinewine]

Only thing named is the shop vac:

R2D2.

[tonyc1]

I name goats, rabbits, horses - and vehicles too. And then some things don't have names so much as titles - "The Purple Truck", "BOB" (which was short for "Bucket of Bolts") etc. I call my vulcanizer "Seaview" because it has a large round handle on top which reminds me of being in a sub etc.

And if you're wondering what a vulcanizer is, here's a picture - vulcanizer

So, UKRAY - you are not alone. I too am barking mad.

I'd forgotten all about vulcanizers as I haven't used one for about 30 years plus. BUT I found my old one a couple of days ago but no patches, and it is a "Dunlop 5 Minute Vulcanizer". They appear to be much diff these days.! Here is a snap of it.

Tony.

[DJ1935]

Hi Ray

I drive a my red (ex Post Office) '73 Morris 1100 van every day for work. It got christened "the Tardis" by one of my workers years ago and the name stuck. We also have a 1936 Morris Eight called "Chester". It had an old sticker in the back window from the town of Chester in the Uk. I left it there hoping a former owner might spot it. After 23 years nothing yet! The old Pearson I call "Jimmy" after the Saddler we got it from, sadly he passed away two months after we picked up the machine from his workshop. He was a great guy and parted this earth far too early.

Yes, I guess naming inanimate objects is an English "thing". (I was born on the Isle of Wight!)

Cheers

DJ

[Crystal]

Only thing named is the shop vac:

R2D2.

Russ - that hit a funny bone! I will not be able to look at my shop vac the same again.

After reading all this- I either am not very imaginative, or have not had inanimate objects with enough charater to be worthy of being named. The hubby, however, does name his things. But he is not terribly imaginative either, they are all called the same thing - "Mine".

Crystal

[Zilla]

We had a '65 Barracuda that was named Ruda. The shop vac we had at the movie theater I use to clean when I was in High School was also named R2D2. More common tools are the thingy ma jig or the doo wicky. LOL

[leatherworklee]

Well........My stitching horse is known as "Old Flash". This thing that I am sending this on is "The Boat Anchor" just to remind it who really is boss around here. I had a Chevy 4x4 that was built in part in Canada I called it' The Mountie" It was a RCMP A Royal Canandian Money Pit. I replaced almost everything except the bumpers in the 3 1/2 years that I drove it. My Brother has an old '68 Dodge pick-up he calls the Oat Eater. Lee

[UKRay]

Sorry Tony, it looks like you, Crystal, and cousin Luke are in a minority, there are more barking mad people out there than you imagined. So be afraid... be very afraid!

I think the funniest (and most topical) to date is the stitching horse called 'Old Flash' - You are currently leading the pack, Leatherworklee. Yeehaw!

Dianne, you come a very, very close second with the story of Bessie the Buick... but your wolves definitely restore the balance - soooo cool!

HorsehairBraider, I like the 'Purple Truck' and 'BOB' but on reflection 'Seaview the vucaniser' is pretty weird by anyone's standards... least said about him the better.

Suze, why am I not surprised that you have a dress form named Lulubelle and a plastic skull called Yorick?

Shop vacs called R2D2 seem to be everywhere...

Anyone else want to take the opportunity to 'fess up?

[Denise]

My first little car was Elsie - L. C. - Little Car. Pretty tame. But my animals name themselves. I walked out of the SPCA with a silver tabby kitten and by the time I hit the front sidewalk she had called herself Tabitha. I didn't want a cat named Tabitha, especially a tabby cat. Far too common. I tried and tried and tried to change it to something else. But Tabitha or Tab she remained for 15 1/2 years. Never Tabby though. I even got after my grandmother for calling her that once.

Tab's companion cat was Finnigan Finbecker the First Nikkel. Long story there. He lived to be almost 17. They were the inside cats and thus "the kids".

The outside cats are working cats and they are "the stepkids" - cheap food, no special care, etc. Right now we have Squint and Doodle. I think the coyotes got Dandy. We had Harriet - a spayed, female long haired cat. I changed the spelling to look better. Billie Bob was the best at mousing though. One place we lived had a litter whom we called Bubble, Squeak, Burp, Fib and Horatio. They were all black and white except Horatio who was grey and white with a kinked tail. A wilder cat around here had a litter. The ones I remember were Ping and Pong, Squirt and Smurf.

Our canaries are Mello and Dee, the females, and Pavaroti, the male. Figaro died.

And Taylor the Wonder Dog came with Tay as a name, but that is so close to "stay" that we changed it a bit. Rather boring name, but the best dog in the world, bar none. (Or at least that is how I see it!)