In 1955 Ford Motor Company hired Marianne Moore to help name their newest car-model. The 67 year-old poet had some interesting suggestions. Imagine driving a car named "Utopian Turtletop" or "Andante Con Tropo." What about "The Anticipator"? The "Thunder Crester"? The "Silver Sword"? The "Regna Racer"? What exactly is a "Magigravue"? Or a "Turcotingo"? Would you expect a "Pastelogram" to get better gas mileage and good acceleration? I like "The Varsity Stroke" but it might be a bit preppy. She also suggested "Mongoose Civique" and "The Intelligent Whale" (which the car was almost as big as.) "The Resilient Bullet" sounds almost cool.
Ford didn't use any of Moore's suggestions, deciding instead to name the new car after Henry Ford’s son and heir. The Edsel. The question isn't why Ford Motor Company named the car Edsel, but why Henry Ford would give such a name to his son. Maybe he should have let the poet name him.
Marianne Moore appears five times in A Book of Ages. Henry Ford, Edsel's grandfather, appears seven times.
Showing posts with label Father's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Father's Day. Show all posts
Monday, June 15, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Father's Day
Is it too early to talk about Father's Day? I don't think so. Men buy their wives Mother's Day presents the afternoon of the day before; women are more organized and probably bought the father of their children a gift in the post-Christmas sales. So, I am counting on the kids.
Kids? Fathers love books. Biographies are great. Military biographies even better. Sports biographies, excellent choice. Political biography?
It's getting hard to choose isn't it? Which do you go for? The safest idea might be to spread your bets out a little. Cover the board. Buy Dad A BOOK OF AGES. It's got sports heroes, famous generals, film stars, chefs, cowboys and Indians, bank robbers, mountain climbers, spy novelists and real spies, rock stars, business tycoons, famous explorers, presidents, philosophers, inventors, scientists, heroes and arch-villains.
And A BOOK OF AGES is fun to read. Men love facts, and every page is jammed full of interesting facts, funny stories, amazing moments from over 700 amazing lives. Bite sized paragraphs. Dad will start reading them aloud to you: "Did you know that Ted Williams homered in his last time up?" "Did you know that George Washington didn't win a battle until he was 44?" "Did you know that Pete Townshend broke his first guitar onstage when he was 19?" (All true.)
And I know you will act as if you are interested when he does this because dads are at their most lovable when they are dispensing bite sized bits of wisdom. They are happiest when they are doing this. He will love this book. And you will refrain from rolling your eyes when he is reading from it, at least until you have left the room.
But seriously, it is a perfect gift. Suitable for grandfathers too.
Kids? Fathers love books. Biographies are great. Military biographies even better. Sports biographies, excellent choice. Political biography?
It's getting hard to choose isn't it? Which do you go for? The safest idea might be to spread your bets out a little. Cover the board. Buy Dad A BOOK OF AGES. It's got sports heroes, famous generals, film stars, chefs, cowboys and Indians, bank robbers, mountain climbers, spy novelists and real spies, rock stars, business tycoons, famous explorers, presidents, philosophers, inventors, scientists, heroes and arch-villains.
And A BOOK OF AGES is fun to read. Men love facts, and every page is jammed full of interesting facts, funny stories, amazing moments from over 700 amazing lives. Bite sized paragraphs. Dad will start reading them aloud to you: "Did you know that Ted Williams homered in his last time up?" "Did you know that George Washington didn't win a battle until he was 44?" "Did you know that Pete Townshend broke his first guitar onstage when he was 19?" (All true.)
And I know you will act as if you are interested when he does this because dads are at their most lovable when they are dispensing bite sized bits of wisdom. They are happiest when they are doing this. He will love this book. And you will refrain from rolling your eyes when he is reading from it, at least until you have left the room.
But seriously, it is a perfect gift. Suitable for grandfathers too.
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