1 August 2011
Commonality contest
Posted by Callan
Here’s a contest for you: tell me what all the following items have in common. Though there are several sub-themes (readily apparent), I’m looking for the one overriding commonality for all the following 105 items:
- Hi-Lo
- Inferno
- The Good Life
- Country Squire
- Wildcat
- Wilderness
- Challenger
- Flair
- Catalina Sport
- Alpine Coach
- Designer
- Carriage
- Maxum Wildlife
- Artic Fox
- Crested Butte
- Jazz
- Copper Canyon
- Adventure
- Surveyor
- Navion
- Sportsmen
- New Vision
- Montana
- Mirada
- Pleasure Way
- Royal Classic
- Rockwood
- Majestic
- Sportsmaster
- Lakota
- Mako
- Vista Cruiser
- Prospector
- Vanguard
- Tango
- Winds
- Prowler
- Dutchmen
- Silverback
- Ever-lite
- Adventurer
- Caribou
- Georgetown
- Frontier
- Max-lite
- Wildwood
- Westwind
- Rockwood
- Springdale
- Allegro Bay
- Wildcat
- Eagle
- Eagle Ridge
- Conquest
- Northern Lite
- Kodiak
- Hornet
- Wanderer
- Cougar
- Bighorn
- Laredo
- Outback
- Lacrosse
- Sunseeker
- Sprinter
- Coyote
- Northern Lite
- Vectra
- Tamarack Trail
- Bigfoot
- Zoom
- Rustler
- Hideout
- Regal
- Citation
- Denali
- Passage
- Wave
- Raptor
- Sandpiper
- Four Winds
- Everest
- Puma
- Apex
- Vortex
- Avalanche
- Alpine
- Monterey
- Terra
- Zinger
- Scamp
- Sunflyer
- Nomad
- Allegra
- Aljo
- Crusier
- Vista
- Flagstaff
- Sunchaser
- Sabre
- Jay Flight
- Minnie
- Topaz
- X-Aire
- Hitchhiker II
First place goes to the first person to tell me (in the comments) what the overriding common theme is. Second place goes to the person who organizes all 105 into 10 or fewer sub-themes that are consistent and coherent (in the comments). Third place goes to the person who tells an amusing anecdote (in the comments) about the overriding theme. Go for it, and… good luck.
Callan Bentley is an assistant professor of geology at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. He is particularly interested in structural geology and the evolution of the Appalachian mountain belt. Callan draws cartoons and writes for EARTH magazine. He lives in the Fort Valley of Virginia.
Matt Kuchta said on 1 August 2011
About half of these are names of Recreational Vehicles or Travel Trailers (saw about a dozen of these names while in Glacier NP last week).
Callan said on 1 August 2011
“Half”?? ALL of them are RV names. Matt, you win first place, and thus open up the competition for third place… Somebody tell me a good RV anecdote…
Matt Kuchta said on 1 August 2011
Well, I only recognized half of them as such – apparently you were paying closer attention than I over the past two weeks…
Callan said on 1 August 2011
We made it a hobby!
Jan W said on 1 August 2011
All things related to geology in some form. That’s my wildestly simple guess
Callan said on 1 August 2011
Thanks Jan, but Matt got it: they are all recreational vehicle (camper van) model names I saw in the past two weeks.
Cian said on 1 August 2011
Arriving at Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley one year, we saw a sign at the ranger’s entry station:
Coyotes: 1
Dogs:0
We asked what it meant, and the ranger said (I’m paraphrasing): a lot of the RV folks like to bring their dogs and sit outside with them in the evening in front of the campfire. Sometimes, they let the little travel dogs stray a little too far out of the fire light. That’s when the coyotes get +1.
(It also kind of sums up how I feel about those giant RVs — 105 different names?!)
Callan said on 1 August 2011
OOh. I like that. Cian gets third place — now we’re only waiting for some organizing soul to claim 2nd place!
tim said on 3 August 2011
Not going to attempt to organize them, by… what, make, style???
But a few of those names have been used for various types of backpacking equipment through the years.
CherryBombSim said on 4 August 2011
“Hey, honey! Let’s go for a vacation in the Inferno.” Doesn’t sound very appealing, but I guess they ran out of names.
Callan said on 4 August 2011
Probably aimed at the macho crowd who wouldn’t be caught dead in a “Four Winds Lite”…