It Matters What You Call It |
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SpongeBob
New Slug Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Posted: 08 Sep 2006 at 12:28pm |
In a public relations battle, it matters very much what you call something. Clever minds have come up with all sorts of alternative words and phrases designed to mold public opinion.
Consider "downsizing", "right-sizing", "embedding", and "nicotine-delivery systems", to name but a few. Yes, distasteful, I know, but consider the emotional resonance of "processing facility" versus "slaughterhouse". We need to consider how our word-choices influence public perception of HOV as an undeserved "perk". I propose that we stop calling them the HOV lanes and start referring to them every time as "carpool lanes". Carpools are cool. Nobody objects to carpools. They are seen as Regular Joe, a very mainstream American activity. Dagwood carpools. Regular folks carpool. It's a social activity, a recognized Good Idea, an everyday occurrence. And everybody understands what a carpool lane is. I submit that most people think its fair that carpoolers have a reserved lane and that buses and vans use that lane, too. But ask most people what HOV means, and they equate it with favoritism, or cheating, or special exemptions. "HOV", as a term, carries with it a sense of mere happenstance, as if it is simply a matter of luck if you are over or under the arbitrary HOV number. "Hey, I happen to have three people in my car today! I get to use HOV!" A carpool, on the other hand, is something you have to create. Everyone understands that carpools don't simply "happen". People have to make a carpool. And everyone understands that a carpool means fewer vehicles clogging up the roads. So "carpools", as a word, taps into a reservoir of good-feeling, while HOV is an arbitrary, state-constructed concept. And it's Toll Roads, not HOT, right? |
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sable2
New Slug Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Brilliant! But don't stop there. What would be a"good-feeling-reservoir- tapping" name for Slugs, if not for Slugs themselves, then at least for those that may come a-tappin'?!
Enjoy! |
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sluDgE
Master Slug Joined: 27 Oct 2003 Status: Offline Points: 501 |
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OK ... will VDOT now change all their signage, websites, regulations to redesignate them officially as "car pool (CP) lanes"? [;)]
We would then have CP-3 on I-95/395, and CP-2 on I-66 and I-64/264. [:p] Love it! [:p] |
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SpongeBob
New Slug Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Yeah, I'll admit the futility of hoping for a real, permanent name change, or something different on VDOT's big boards.
But if we use the phrase "carpool lanes" consistently in all public debates, in the letters Bob writes to the editors, in our own emails to VDOT and the Governor, when speaking to the press, etc., then maybe what we do as ride-sharers will be seen as our contribution to easing congestion and lessening pollution. BTW, I was thinking of the word "slug", too, as something that might be upgraded, but not only would it create a firestorm of anti-Sponge rhetoric from the slug community, I simply can't come up with a better name. |
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n/a
New Slug Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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How about "easy-riders," or "easies." Yea, I know its a throw-back to those hippy days, but its fun and playful.
How about "heroes" for carpool drivers. Since we're working on naming conventions today, let's settle on "high-breds" for hybrids, and "pick-pocket lanes" for HOTs. I've got more! How about "turn-coats" for politicians who support the "high-bred" exemption and the "pick-pocket" lanes. Any other ideas? |
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DC2RV
Master Slug Joined: 28 Feb 2002 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 1014 |
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How about "Cazs" as short for Casual Carpooler? The "zs" is pronounced like the "zs" in Zsa Zsa Gabor (the sister of Eva of Green Acres fame).
(i know, some of you will now suggest "Arnold" as in Arnold Ziffel) |
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Bob
New Slug Joined: 14 Dec 2001 Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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I don't see any problem with the HOV term but I agree that "carpool" has a lot of positive connotations. Note also that it is called HOV because it includes not just carpools but van pools and buses.
I agree that names matter. As example, I saw a recent letter in the Fredericksburg paper by a hi-bred and he was implying that because the VDOT signs use the term "restricted lanes" that means that hybrids are ok for all time. Of course, the restricted lanes term was surely just a way of simplifying, since it is does include buses, motorcylces, and yes hybrids until they are dis-allowed. But the guy was saying, -see it is "restricted" not just carpools ERGO hybrids forever. |
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SpongeBob
New Slug Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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As a fellow TV character, I am all in favor of being called a Ziffel.
I suppose it is a little too narcissistic and, frankly, obvious, for us to be called sponges? No, I suppose we will just have to live with the approbrium of slugdom. Hold the salt! |
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SpongeBob
New Slug Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Ugh, I don't like "restricted lanes" ever. What the heck does that mean? No wonder the guy in F'burg was confused.
I know there are buses and motorcycles and so on..., but you see, Bob, there is the genius of my design: by calling it carpool lanes first, not bus lanes, or HOV, or restricted lanes, etc., we assert the primacy of the vast majority of users - those sharing rides in private vehicles. MOST of the people in the lanes, in fact. The rest use the lanes on sufference. (and, to pre-empt him -- No, NoSUV, I'm not talking about Slugs having pre-eminence, but Ride-Sharers as a whole, most of whom are NOT Slugs.) |
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n/a
New Slug Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Location: VA Status: Offline Points: 0 |
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Nor are they high-bred drivers.
This is so clearly a battle; good against evil. The good of the carpooling "hero" drivers and "easy" riders, pitted against the evil, selfish SOV high-breds and the "turn-coat" politicians who want to launch their evil plan of commuting domination called "pick-pocket" lanes. The drama rivals LOST! |
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