After the US military adopted AM General’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), soldiers shorthanded the name to a more melodious “Humvee,” which GM’s marketing department later rehashed that as “Hummer.” So how should we pronounce “JLTV?”
I have a feeling our men and women in uniform aren’t going to go around saying “which one of you private first-class jabronis put this Creed sticker on our Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicle?!” And “JLTV” isn’t all that much easier to say.
They can’t just call it “a truck,” because there are way too many wheeled machines in the military that could be referring to.
So what are we thinking? “Joltvee?” Kinda sounds like a robot from a Disney movie. “Joltev?” Eh, that’s gotta be some kind of Israeli energy drink. Maybe “Jilltev?”
Let’s hear your ideas! I’m sure the guys making decisions at the Pentagon will be reading. Or at least, the NSA surveillance officer assigned to keep tabs on us. (Hi Richard!)
I kinda doubt there really is a government agent named Richard judging the patriotism of my posts, but if there is, he’s totally gonna freak.
Hat tip to DennyCranex3 for asking this question in the first place! Image by the author, graphics via Oshkosh, Wikipedia Creative Commons.
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.