FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

Discuss the sport you love with other motorsport fans

Discuss your own car, automotive news and latest supercar launches.
#240330
Toyota Announces the Plural of Prius

Decade-Long Debate Laid to Rest with Recognition of the Term 'Prii'

TORRANCE, Calif., February 20, 2011 –Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc. today announced that the general public has selected 'Prii' as the preferred plural term for Prius.

The Prius Goes Plural voting campaign was launched on January 10 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and challenged the public to help the automaker determine the plural nomenclature of Prius. The campaign coincided with the world premiere of the Toyota Prius family of vehicles. With 25 percent of the votes, Prii becomes the word not only endorsed by the public who chose it, but also as the term recognized by Toyota. As such, Dictionary.com has updated its entry for the word 'Prius' to reflect this.

Toyota unveiled the winning word at the Chicago Auto Show this morning. Jay Schwartz, head of content for Dictionary.com, was on hand to inform the public that, as the plural of Prius has now been determined, the term 'Prii' will be reflected in Dictionary.com.

After the more than 1.8 million votes were cast during the course of the six-week campaign, Prii beat out its four competitors: Prius, Priuses, Prium and Prien. Prius came in at a close second with 24 percent of the votes. A video recap of the campaign and winning word celebration can be viewed at www.ToyotaPriusProjects.com.

"Community has always been a big part of the Prius brand, so it was only fitting that we invite the online communities to participate in the plural discussion," said Colin Morisako, advertising manager for Toyota. "The people have spoken-Prii will be the accepted term used to describe multiple Prius vehicles going forward."

The plural of Prius has sparked debates since the launch of the vehicle 10 years ago. Now that the Prius family has grown, Toyota asked its customers and fans to help the company decide on a term to describe the plural of Prius vehicles, thus answering the decade-long question-what do you call more than one Prius? Online voting modules enabled the public to vote for their preferred plural of Prius as well as view real-time polling data. The campaign also featured an animated video, print ads and a web series hosted by James Lipton, host of Inside the Actors Studio and author of An Exaltation of Larks.

With the expansion of the Prius family to include the Prius Plug-in Hybrid vehicle (PHV), Prius v and Prius c concept, Toyota hopes to further increase acceptance of the Prius brand by offering a wider selection of vehicles that each maintain Prius' core values of high fuel economy, low emissions, proven gas-electric hybrid technology and environmental stewardship. For more information on the Toyota Prius family of vehicles, visit www.toyota.com/priusfamily.

About Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion. Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of nearly 1,500 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers which sold more than 1.76 million vehicles in 2010. Toyota directly employs nearly 30,000 people in the U.S. and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyota.com or www.toyotanewsroom.com.
#240358
...How the hell do you even say that? And what crazy person concocted the idea that Prii made more sense than Priuses?
#240494
I thought Toyota have been busy fixing ACCELERATORS and AIRBAGS since their cars in the USA successfully killed its passengers in more than one instance. They have been keeping busy alright.

Tsk tsk.
#240501
...How the hell do you even say that? And what crazy person concocted the idea that Prii made more sense than Priuses?

I venture a guess: pree-i

Is it Pree-ee, pree-eye, preye-ee?

It's completely counterintuitive. The double-i grouping has variously been said to be pronounced "ee" (Wii) and "eye" (Intel's Viiv), now we're being told it's going to represent...ee-ee..? As well?

I mean, jeez. I feel like if I told a Latin Teacher about the plural of "Prius" being "Prii", they'd rip my throat out screaming blasphemy.
#240538
...How the hell do you even say that? And what crazy person concocted the idea that Prii made more sense than Priuses?

I venture a guess: pree-i

Is it Pree-ee, pree-eye, preye-ee?

It's completely counterintuitive. The double-i grouping has variously been said to be pronounced "ee" (Wii) and "eye" (Intel's Viiv), now we're being told it's going to represent...ee-ee..? As well?

I mean, jeez. I feel like if I told a Latin Teacher about the plural of "Prius" being "Prii", they'd rip my throat out screaming blasphemy.

Sagittarius - sagittarii
Nothing wrong. Click on pronunciation:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sagittarii?r=66
#240548
I thought Toyota have been busy fixing ACCELERATORS and AIRBAGS since their cars in the USA successfully killed its passengers in more than one instance. They have been keeping busy alright.

Tsk tsk.


You think America remembers that? :rofl:
#240556
...How the hell do you even say that? And what crazy person concocted the idea that Prii made more sense than Priuses?

I venture a guess: pree-i

Is it Pree-ee, pree-eye, preye-ee?

It's completely counterintuitive. The double-i grouping has variously been said to be pronounced "ee" (Wii) and "eye" (Intel's Viiv), now we're being told it's going to represent...ee-ee..? As well?

I mean, jeez. I feel like if I told a Latin Teacher about the plural of "Prius" being "Prii", they'd rip my throat out screaming blasphemy.

Sagittarius - sagittarii
Nothing wrong. Click on pronunciation:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sagittarii?r=66

My point was more that they're applying Latin connotations to a made up word.
#240590
It's all marketing BS; everyone knows that any word that ends with an "s" has an apostrophe after it; it's Prius' damnit!

Actually, "everyone" may know that, but it is in fact wildly inaccurate. That applies to possessives, not plurals. Plurals of words ending in "s" are "ses". Hence "Williamses", which is a word my father frequently derided as stupid when delivered by James Allen, is, in fact, correct. "The Williamses' tyres" is correct. Prius ought to be Priuses as a plural, with the possessive plural as Priuses' and the singular possessive as Prius's.
#240597
i hate that car, whatever its called.

its an disgrace its marketed as environmental.

Quite. The process of manufacturing and shipping it more than negatively offsets the minimal decrease in emissions. Give me a HONDA Clarity any day.

"Wow" indeed 2008-era Mr. Button.

See our F1 related articles too!