A Volt of Color and a Wonderful Name

A good friend who works for GM sent me this article from a company newsletter that came out this week:

Consumers Choose ‘Viridian Joule’ as Winning Color Name for Volt Paint Contest. David Thomas, 40, of Sanford, Fla., has won Chevrolet’s national contest to name the Volt’s lead paint color and the opportunity to be the first consumer to test-drive a pre-production Volt. Nearly 3,000 people cast their votes at chevroletvoltage.com for Thomas’ “Viridian Joule.” Voting ended yesterday, and Chevrolet announced the winner in Los Angeles.“I looked at the photo of the Volt on the contest web site and thought it looked emerald in color, which led to jewel and then to an alternate yet appropriate play on that word – joule (a unit of electrical energy),” said Thomas.

To read the press release click here.

Following are definitions for the words that make up the color name and the car model from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/.

Volt: The International System unit of electric potential and electromotive force, equal to the difference of electric potential between two points on a conducting wire carrying a constant current of one ampere when the power dissipated between the points is one watt.

Viridian: A durable bluish-green pigment.
[From Latin viridis, green; see virid.]

Joule: 1. The International System unit of electrical, mechanical, and thermal energy.
2. a. A unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere is passed through a resistance of one ohm for one second.
b. A unit of energy equal to the work done when a force of one newton acts through a distance of one meter.

and of course -

Jewel: A precious stone; a gem.

What an outstandingly appropriate homophone; I can see why Thomas’ "Viridian Joule" was chosen. Congratulations.