Can We Please Find a Better Word Than 'Frunk?'

"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
06/18/2018 at 13:23 • Filed to: Branding

I understand that we Americans have a knack for smashing ungraceful words together and deeming them a poem but I think that we can do better than frunk . I don’t care how long or how widely used it is! Frunk instantly undermines any authority the speaker may have even more than a doctor calls all patients, “Bro.”

Does anyone with a frunk feel comfortable saying that “term” out loud? In conversation? Around actual people?

Maybe this is just my branding alarm blowing up but my gut says there is a more mature sounding term that can be created in order to better match the products that tend to have a front storage compartment.

I would personally be happy with taking words such as valise (vah-lees) and frontage (pronounced like front + storage) for automotive area use . In the US, we rarely refer to an overnight bag as a valise and even though we do have frontage roads we don’t use the word frontage in general conversation as much now.

I think that valise would be easy to market in the US as the front storage compartment for front-engineless cars. I think that a journalist would earn beaucoup credibility points compared to discussing the frunk space of a 911.

Frontage is a cool repurposing because of the... portmanteau! Im genuinely proud of that pun.

DISCUSSION (52)

Spanfeller is a twat > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:28

I think the English did a great job with bonnet and boot.

For Sweden > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:29

No, frunk is good

Takuro Spirit > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:33

I’m still waiting for “Junk In The Frunk” to be applied to large belly’d persons.

CalzoneGolem > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:33

Can’t we just call it the trunk still? It is not really relevant if ti is in the front or back.

BigBlock440 > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:35

Yes, we have a better word, “trunk”. There’s nothing in “trunk” that means it’s at the rear of the vehicle.

HammerheadFistpunch > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:36

Why can’t it just have 2 trunks. We don’t name each door.

Tekamul > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:38

Naaa. Trunk sounds awful too, from a strictly phonics perspective, but everybody’s cool with it because it’s always been a thing. It’s more about the ‘unk’.

If you’re going to diverge from the commonly accepted name, may as well make up something new, don’t go non-english first for an english speaking audience.

How ‘bout chest?

The chest and the trunk, one’s in front, one’s in back.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:38

Front Underhood Cargo Karrier

or FUCK for short.

450X_FTW > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:44

If it’s a Frunk because Front Trunk, then shouldn’t the rear be Brunk because Back Trunk?

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:44

Kinja'd!!!

Sir Halffast > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:44

Why not just do as the Brits do and call it a “boot.” There’s no directional indicator, so it seems adequate.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > CalzoneGolem
06/18/2018 at 13:45

It does matter, though. If you say something is “in the trunk” and there are two of them, you then have to specify. Saying it is “in the frunk” is unambiguous.

For Sweden > HammerheadFistpunch
06/18/2018 at 13:46

We don’t?

BigBlock440 > 450X_FTW
06/18/2018 at 13:46

Yes, yes it should be. But we’ve never differentiated on what we called the wooden box before based on where we put it on the wagon, why do we need to start now?

For Sweden > 450X_FTW
06/18/2018 at 13:46

I support brunk

HammerheadFistpunch > For Sweden
06/18/2018 at 13:47

We can locate them, but they aren’t unique. We don’t call the drivers door the droor.

CalzoneGolem > Eric @ opposite-lock.com
06/18/2018 at 13:48

What about hood and trunk? Like bonnet and boot.

Also ... how many cars is that actually relevant to?

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:49

Frorage compartment.

feather-throttle-not-hair > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:49

Does anyone with a frunk feel comfortable saying that “term” out loud? In conversation? Around actual people?

Only in front of my girlfriend when we’re doin it.

For Sweden > HammerheadFistpunch
06/18/2018 at 13:50

What about friendlier names, like Susan?

lone_liberal > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:51

I like frunk. It’s frunky.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:52

Kinja'd!!!

Crunk.

Dusty Ventures > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:54

Frunk is a magnificent word and I will not stand for this slander

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > CalzoneGolem
06/18/2018 at 13:54

I suppose not too many, but it is getting more common with electric cars. The Model S doesn’t have a “trunk”, but many will call it that. Many people also call the “hatch” a “trunk” for some reason.

user314 > Sir Halffast
06/18/2018 at 13:55

Agreed, “boot” is a perfectly cromulent term.

450X_FTW > BigBlock440
06/18/2018 at 13:55

Cue someone naming these “Strunk” as in Side Trunk

Kinja'd!!!

So Shiney. So Chrome! So Frunky > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:56

I don’t see the problem here.......

Though we could go nautical. Call it the head because it’s where you put your shit. On a boat its at the front (traditionally) and where you take a shit. Additionally this opens up the possibility of calling the aft trunk the ‘ass’ because if something has a head it should have an ass......

GTI Sprinks > Spanfeller is a twat
06/18/2018 at 13:58

I was just thinking how our british brethren must see this conversation and think we’re all loons.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 13:59

FRUNK

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:06

Frunk is a marvelous word. The only time anyone looks at me weird after the usage of frunk is when they realize that is the correct word and their mind is blown.

Thomas Donohue > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:13

I don’t think I’ve ever called it the frunk out loud. I just call it ‘the front’ since there’s nothing else up there.

Having said that, I do wish it had a cooler name.....like we call the passenger seat ‘shotgun’.

Maybe we can call it ‘the bucket’.

Or ‘Fred’.

Thomas Donohue > Spanfeller is a twat
06/18/2018 at 14:17

But isn’t the bonnet the hood? Not the storage area under the hood....which the British called ‘the bloody engine’ when it wouldn’t start.

So you’d have to say ‘under the bonnet’ which is too long, and probably has alternative meanings.

PS9 > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:17

No.

Thomas Donohue > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
06/18/2018 at 14:19

Or, for German cars FUCHS (Underhood Cargo Holding Somethingorother)

M.T. Blake > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:20

Boot.

Spanfeller is a twat > Thomas Donohue
06/18/2018 at 14:22

A bonnet isn’t strictly the engine’s cover.

From my experience in Spanish, if it’s blatantly obvious that a car is mid engined you’d call it “cajuela” if it’s electric and with two storage compartments I’ve seen people call it “capo y cajuela” basically Bonnet and Boot.

smobgirl > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:26

This entire comment thread is why I love Oppo.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > HammerheadFistpunch
06/18/2018 at 14:27

So the passenger door would be the poor?

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:54

I just call it a “storage area”

It’s universal and doesn’t require much specifics

punkgoose17 > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:56

I have multiple options:

front trunk

fronttrunk

trunk

Also, I’ve never heard of a valise.

Pich, with Z32 now featuring Civic [Si] / No > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 14:58

The British call them Boot, but if we use Froot we can expect a colorful cease and desist letter soon

punkgoose17 > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
06/18/2018 at 14:58

This is the NASA naming convention.

punkgoose17 > Eric @ opposite-lock.com
06/18/2018 at 15:01

I think the “hatch” is the type of lid. The enclosed cargo area is still a “trunk.”

punkgoose17 > Tekamul
06/18/2018 at 15:03

This makes too much sense and is too logical, the world will never accept it.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 15:40

I actually like the word frunk. It is fun to say

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > For Sweden
06/18/2018 at 16:30

Or Bruce, if it’s a Porsche.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 16:31

Froot.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > punkgoose17
06/18/2018 at 16:51

The “trunk” is actually named after the luggage trunk that was attached to the back of early cars. It implies a secure closed storage area. The “trunk lid”, since it is a lid on a trunk, should open within the box of the car’s footprint, which a hatch doesn’t.

Kar Wai Wong > Wobbles the Mind
06/18/2018 at 16:58

Well what’s wrong with just trunk, or front trunk? Tesla just felt a need to give it a name for marketing reasons. They also decided they didn’t like the term gullwing doors.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > HammerheadFistpunch
06/18/2018 at 18:06

Well shut the Proor!

Nauraushaun > Wobbles the Mind
06/19/2018 at 04:29

I like frunk, I’ll gladly say it in public. What’s wrong with it?

And this is as an Australian who thinks American English is silly. Why does demuro always say “in back”?

OIIIIIIIO Everything's better when wet. Just ask Steve. > Wobbles the Mind
06/20/2018 at 12:39

so you want your luggage in yout Trunt? wait what?