The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[niceprincess]

This is a small part of  "The  Hitch  Hiker's  Guide  to  the  Galaxy" by Douglas Adams:
"He had made one careless blunder though, because he had skimped a bit on his preparatory research. The information he had gathered had led him to choose the name "Ford Prefect" as being nicely inconspicuous."

I don't understand that thing with the name. It was wrongly chosen yes? but why? English is not my mother language that's why I sometimes don't get the right meaning of what I read =))

[Hippy]

"Ford Prefect" is the brand name of a very popular motor car in 1950s/1960s Britain. So, it would be inconspicuous if you were a car, as there were loads of them around. He has skimped on his research by missing that it was a car name and not a person name.

[GeekyLynn]

More speifically, I believe he skimped on research when trying to determine the dominant species of earth. He originally assumed cars were dominant, hence the name, but later found out otherwise.

[ursula62]

Sheesh - I read HHG yonks ago. Never realised it was a brand of car - but then I'm a girlie and wouldn't know such things!

I thought that the process of choosing a name had gone through some famous people, e.g. the newsreader Anna Ford etc and had come up with that name as a result.

I'm sure the explanation about the car came much later than the original HHG - in a bid to explain the humour to the American reader.

[WaldoMcFroog]

ursula62, it's not spelled out as such. It's just an obvious inferrence to anyone who knows a little about British cars.

[sddsddean]

And heres a picture of one http://www.mrmodels.co.nz/New_Uploads_04_01/1959_Prefect.jpg

There was an earlier model in the late 40's, but this is the version 'referred' to in HHG

[Peter Pedant]

hi Nicey

Although Ford prefect is a car

Ford is both a first and a last name - Ford Madox Ford springs to mind. And a prefect is an appointed schoolboy, and is also an anagram of perfect. So he could, if he had skimped his research, have thought......

Actually I found this name and comment so off-putting and silly that I didnt read any Douglas Adams until around five years ago. (not your comment, Adams')

[Pinotage]

Ford is not a common first name in the UK --  I've never come across anyone called Ford.

At the time the radio series was first aired in 78 there would have been some  Ford Prefects still on the street (production ceased in 59) and it will have been a very familiar car from listeners childhood.  

If the series was made today the character could be called -- say Toyota Celica and have the same impact

[Mrs_Pegasus]

I am a girlie but understood the Ford Prefect reference because my dad made me into a petrol head!! LOL

Could have been worse he could have named himself Ford Zephyr or Zodiac and then he would have looked silly.

I know many people with the surname Ford, the most prominent being a man whose dad was a Brentford FC fan and yes he called his son Brent!

[WoWo]

"He originally assumed cars were dominant, hence the name, but later found out otherwise"

That's in the film but as I can recall thats not mentioned in the the radio series or books.