#37 Names, in travel and politics

Malpensa, Milan’s airport, roughly translates into English as “Bad Thoughts.” Why would any English-speaking tourist want to go to an airport with such a name? On the other hand, I suppose it’s a good airport to depart from, as my wife and I did several years ago after a wonderful Italian tour: take to the air and leave “Bad Thoughts” behind.

Many years ago, when the Chevy Nova was a popular American car (it was the first car we owned, back in Columbus, Ahia), General Motors decided to try to export it to the growing automobile market in South America. It didn’t sell at all well. Finally, GM’s marketers realized that Nova—“doesn’t go”—is probably NOT a good name for an automobile on a primarily Spanish and Portuguese speaking continent.

I bring you these thoughts because of their relevance to one of the congressional races in Texas being targeted this year by the National Republican Congressional Committee. Two years ago, Democrat Nick Lampson won Texas’s Twenty-Second District, which had been Tom DeLay’s bailiwick in suburban Houston. The district had voted 64% for dubya in 2004. DeLay, you may remember, had been the Republican majority leader who was tied to the activities of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Well, Nick Lampson is up for re-election. And “scandal babies,” the term given to underdogs who win seats because of the incumbents’ illegal, immoral, or unethical behavior, or at least implications of such behavior, tend not to do well in their re-election campaigns, once the scandal has passed from the public consciousness. The National Republican Congressional Committee has targeted Lampson’s district as one that has a good chance of returning to the Republican column.

In his campaign, Nick Lampson is emphasizing how he has worked to protect NASA against budget cuts, a major concern of his constituents. Unfortunately, from an English language point of view (with French accents, perhaps), the name of one of Lampson’s consultants is…Mike Malaise.

May not bode well for Nick in November.

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