Whence comes the term, Sport Utility Vehicle, or SUV? Back in WWII the US Army's "General Purpose" (GP) vehicle became known as "Geep," with the soft "G" supplanted by a "J," as is often done in American English, and that term became a trademarked name. So why the )(*&!@$#!$ do I now hear people calling a Jeep an SUV? All those stupid oversized station wagons with four wheel drive are Jeep clones, are they not? Very few have any sporting application, so the term seems silly to me.
Back in WWII the US Army's "General Purpose" (GP) vehicle became known as "Geep," with the soft "G" supplanted by a "J," as is often done in American English, and that term became a trademarked name.
Umm... That's not actually the reason for the name. It came from the name of the character "Eugene the Jeep," introduced in the Popeye comic strip in 1936, according to The Word Detective. Scroll down to "Four-wheel Fowl".
I strongly suspect that Eugene the Jeep simply made the inevitable quicker. Military personnel are forever shortening alphanumerics and initials into words. For instance, the early US Naval jet fighter, the Douglas F-4D, was commonly called a "Ford" for obvious reasons.
Now, how about my query regarding the origins of Stupid Useless Ve- errr, SUV?
Interestingly, SUV is in the OED, under "S". Here is what they say:
quote:
SUV n. N. Amer. = sport utility vehicle n. at SPORT n.1 Compounds 4a. 1987 Metalworking News 29 June 5/4 Right now, the only four-door wagons available in the compact-size sports utility vehicle (*SUV) class are made by American Motors Corp. 2000 Denver Post 26 Nov. E10/1 Thanks for letting me pull my big honking SUV in front of you, even though it blocks all sunlight in a two-lane radius.
I was surprised that it was used as early as 1987.
1987 sounds about right to me. I had searched for several years to find a citation, and you do it in a few minutes! Wow! Still no statement as to who coined the term, or why.
From what I remember reading in an article a while ago (and confirmed, I guess, by the Wikipedia article on jeep) is that the jeep was not a general purpose vehicle, that the GP designation originated with a Ford internal designation. The Popeye strip jeep does predate the vehicle. (See link.)
We don't often refer to such cars as SUVs in the UK, partly because they're not common here. Some similar cars are referred to (disparagingly) as "Chelsea Tractors", and "Yank Tanks". They are also known as "4X4s".
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
"Yankee Tank" isn't rare in certain circles here in the US. I use it frequently. "4X4" is usually reserved for the more serious, genuinely off-road-capable vehicles around here.
WM (who actually doesn't know much about vehicles of any kind, but who once worked at a Girl Scout summer camp where there was a Land Rover affectionately referred to as "the jitney," as it was used to haul deliveries of supplies and equipment to the campsites, and counselors back to camp from late nights out!)
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Real Land Rovers certainly qualify. If you've seen the movie, "The Gods Must Be Crazy," there's one of the classic Land Rovers in it. The original Toyota Land Cruiser qualifies, as do the CJ and YJ model Jeeps, Mercedes Unimogs, original Hummvees and other no-nonsense strictly ultilitarian vehicles.
Whence comes the term, Sport Utility Vehicle, or SUV?
The term seems to have originated with the press after the success of Jeep Cherokee. The term utility vehicle, which I have traced back to at least the 'fifties of the last century, was a near synonym for panel truck or panel van. On the farm, we tended to call this kind of vehicle a grease wagon. I think it is probable that reporters were being sarcastic about a "utility" vehicle that would seldom be used for its original purpose, but was rather more like a sports car, i.e., one driven for fun. Resources: (link and link).This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,
I had previously seen the Wikipedia article on the Jeep Cherokee, but the second link is new to me. I'd argue that the vehicles depicted there DO have a genuine utility purpose on farms and ranches, and are often seen hereabouts toting shrubbery and the like in city parks.
I worked for a Jeep dealership when the little Cherokee (The name being revived from the 1970s Jeep pickup with a permanently attached canopy) was introduced. It was most definitely NOT called an SUV at the time.
I had previously seen the Wikipedia article on the Jeep Cherokee, but the second link is new to me. I'd argue that the vehicles depicted there DO have a genuine utility purpose on farms and ranches, and are often seen hereabouts toting shrubbery and the like in city parks.
That's because the second link was the result of my searching on the term "utility vehicle" in Google books. There are some results that refer to "sports-utility vehicles", too. I don't think we disagree about what a "real" utility vehicle is.
I worked for a Jeep dealership when the little Cherokee (The name being revived from the 1970s Jeep pickup with a permanently attached canopy) was introduced. It was most definitely NOT called an SUV at the time.
I think we can safely say that the Jeep Cherokee was not called an SUV by the corporation that manufactured it, nor before the Jeep Cherokee was introduced in 1974. That would make the date 1974 a terminus post quem. So, it would have to be sometime between 1974 and today that the term was coined. I still think it likely that SUV was coined sarcastically to mock what could be called the urban cowboy syndrome. Why do people need 4x4s in an urban environment anyway? (Well, outside of a warzone.) It will take somebody with an account for searching old newspaper and magazine articles to determine a first citation for sport-utility vehicle. I don't have one. Perhaps shuffitz could help you.
