Memorial cars

[vilakins]

While I'm here (and LJ is), this is something else I've been meaning to ask about.

A couple of months ago I was following a car with a man's full name on the rear window and something in a curving line above it which I couldn't read till I got closer. In a very fancy script it said, "In loving memory of". OK, that was weird, but then a couple of weeks ago I saw another car with a much more readable sans-serif "In memory of" followed by another name. Both names were fairly standard English ones FWIW.

Has anyone else seem this sort of thing and/or know anything about it? Is it a new thing or something old which has just surfaced here?

And now I'm off to a barbecue with some people from Greg's work. I hope some of the people I know relatively well are there.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

When did it start? Was it with a particular cultural group, or does a wide cross-section of the population do it?

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

There seem to be two types: Never Forget [name] which in Santa Cruz pretty much means they were a surfer. I only see those in Santa Cruz Then there's the more dignified "In memory of:" ones like you've seen and it seems to be middle/upper middle class, based on the type of cars. I suspect it's a white thing.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Never Forget actually is a much wider cross section, and I think may have spilled out even from the surf culture to the Hispanics. Those usually are bumper stickers rather than the fancy window decals, and one gets the impression that not just the family, but a lot of friends have a whip-round for the money to print a few dozen.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

So far I haven't seen bumper stickers.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Yes, the bumper stickers, as I said, are very Santa Cruz, while I've seen the memorial window decals (and in one case possibly etching) in other cities.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Really, upper/middle class? The two cars I saw were probably lower/middle going by the type and model; the names sounded white though. This could be a huge assumption though given that my Indian (from Goa) neighbours are called Roy and Mildred [Scottish surname] I'd say the lettering was custom, probably done by firms which do advertising on company cars.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I think lower middle class in NZ may be wealthier than lower middle class in the US.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

(Also there's the whole "What's middle class?" question having different answers in different countries.) So we might actually be talking about the same thing. Someone who can, in fact, have a car that is only 3 years old instead of 13, and get it detailed.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Then that's not many NZers! Cars are expensive here and most people buy second-hand. We don't make cars, our dollar isn't worth as much as yours, and we earn less of our smaller dollars. My car was about three years old when I got it and it's the most expensive one I've had. It's now ten years old and still better and newer than the average car on the road. We make 'em last!

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Ah, really? In America, minimum wage is only like $7.25 nationally, and I thought yours was higher. Two people earning $20/hr total would be middle class here, for instance. I guess I'm thinking of the Australian min wage as being much better.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Australians are much better paid than us, explaining the huge exodus there. I'd have gone years ago if it hadn't been for Greg. Our minimum wage is $10.80 for youth and $13.50 otherwise. Reemember though that our dollars are both smaller and buy a lot less; people who visit the US are stunned at how cheap everything is there, especially clothes. The average salary here is $50,000, and that hasn't gone up in years despite inflation.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

The Americans who visit New Zealand are the Americans who can afford to visit New Zealand.

The average median personal income is $26,000 in the US.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I gather from tourists who go there that you can buy a lot more with it though. Clothes and petrol are a fraction of the price here. I buy cheap and online and the average garment is still around $80.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Wow, yeah, your clothing is WAY expensive!

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I mean, even assuming your dollar is worth half a US dollar, that would be $40 for a cheap shirt.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Anything below $40 is a bargain!

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

$25 is fairly typical, but I don't buy stuff at that price, I get shirts from clearance racks at $10 or less. Not that I've bought clothes in a long time, but I still know places I can find that. $12-$20 for trousers. Dresses, same. But I am a very cheap person.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And it's not the only thing that is.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

But what about the necessities of life? Is bread $8 a loaf, rent $4000, and an asthma inhaler $500 out of pocket?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I can buy for as little (for us) as $15 when an item's on special and I often do, but I've also bought for as much as $120. Of course it's easier now I have full-time work.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

I'm confused-- $15-120 for a loaf of bread?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Sorry, somehow I missed this thread and thought we were still on clothes. Sorry!

Bread is around $3 - $5 depending on type; I buy decent sourdough wholemeal or rye; I'm sure the supermarket sliced stuff if a lot cheaper. Rent is around $200 a week for a room in a shared house (as I know from my ex-boarder) and I think about $500 for a house? I'm guessing that one.

Asthma inhalers are on prescription only and cost $5 per item (like most prescribed drugs; a few are expensive) till you've gone over a certain limit in the year, then all are free. We do have a good health system compared to the US, even if it's nowhere near as good as the UK's or Australia's.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

OMG! We pay the same amount for bread. More than twice, closer to three times, for housing. And medicines are a fucking mafia shakedown operation-- $135 for the cheaper inhaler before I started buying Canadian, and that was *with* insurance paying part of it.

So if Americans paid so little for *necessities*, poor people could buy $40 shirts!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

True! Of course tourists from here would notice things like clothes, petrol, cars.

I still don't know why our clothes and shoes are so expensive; the clothes are all made in China after all and some of the shoes are. Until I got a full-time job I lived in Crocs.

I also don't know why so many Americans are afraid of a national health service like the UK has, and we have to a lesser extent. The rich probably prefer survival of the richest--I often suspect that of our right-wing governing National party--but surely the majority should realise they'd benefit.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

The majority aren't really good at risk calculation, or maths in general, and they see the fact they will have to output money and like to think they will never really get sick. Plus, the current model-- mandating *private* insurance, actually mandates a profit-making private sector (because anything else is socialism), while single-payer actually can be run nonprofit.

Add to that, huge numbers of Americans are paranoid about government (some for religious reasons, did you know Obama is the Anticrhist?), so they assume bureaucrats would just let them die rather than send them for treatment. After all, "If Stephen Hawking lived under the British National Health System, he'd be dead by now."<--True quote from American wingnut who couldn't be bothered to know the location and nationality of his celebrity example.

In short, many Americans are completely ignorant and proud of it.