Toyoda/Toyota

[Steve Kl.]

In addition to requiring fewer strokes, according to Katie Couric, the 'ta'
version requires eight strokes, and eight is considered a lucky number. (The
'da' version apparently requires ten strokes.)

- Steve

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 12:48 PM, Salikoko Mufwene
<s-mufwene at uchicago.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Salikoko Mufwene <s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU>
> Organization: University of Chicago
> Subject:      Re: Toyoda/Toyota
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> victor steinbok wrote:
> > Not sure if any of it is true, but this is circulating on "the series of
> tubes":
> >
> > Why Toyota and not Toyoda?
> >
> > ==
> > According to a much-quoted article in Wikipedia, the spelling change
> > was made to make it easier to pronounce, symbolize a separation from
> > the founder's home life, and, possibly most importantly, because
> > Toyota, which takes eight strokes to write in Japanese, is considered
> > to be luckier than Toyoda.
> > ==
> >
> Yes, your version is more accurate than mine. It had to do with "luck"
> rather than "connotations."
>
> Sali.
>
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