Why Hank?

Thinking as usual about Henry Ford. A few very old friends were allowed to call him Hank. I’ve called him Hank in the Hank vs Frank comparison.

Wait. How did Henry shorten to Hank? Harry is the more obvious phonetic elision, and the many King Henrys were often called King Harry in literature and song. Never King Hank.

Oh. Hank must come from the older form of the name, Henric or Hendric, echoed in the surname Hendricks and in other languages as Enrique or Enrico or Heinrich. Henk is the usual Dutch nickname for Hendrik. Most of the old Teutonic -ric names disappeared when the French moved in. Henry itself came from the French version, not the English version. Hank must have survived in lower-class circles while the elites followed the French tendency to drop final consonants.

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Irrelevant note: I was reminded of Hank via a different Frank. The Field Guide to Houses has a chapter on Wright and the Chicagoans, emphasizing the smaller and more ordinary variants. The Wright style is relentlessly rectangular and triangular. No circles or domes or arches. BUT: Frank bought a ’41 Lincoln Zephyr and had it customized with a malproportioned arch window in the C-pillar. It looked wrong by any standards, and super-wrong by Wright’s own standards.

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Wright enjoyed flaunting his wealth, but I wonder if he realized what he was doing in this case.

He bought a ’41 Lincoln and had it customized. All wrong.

In houses Wright’s theme was constant. Cantilevers and clerestories. Flat roof, strong horizontal lines, NO arches or circles, lots of windows, open spaces, open furniture.

The Lincoln Zephyr was radical, but it was radically OPPOSITE to Wright’s radicality. The Zephyr pulled all the ‘popouts’ of previous cars into a smooth egglike oval. Wright’s custom trick added even more eggs; worse, they were clumsily dissonant eggs.

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What would a proper Wrightian vehicle look like?

Instant answer: Streetcars. This ‘Narragansett’ open car piloted by Polistra is just Wright. Flat roof, cantilevers, clerestories. open sides, open furniture.

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What was the first automobile to move toward Wright? The Ford Ranch Wagon.

By 1960 most cars had some Wright. Flat roof, long overhangs, lots of strong horizontal lines, minimal pillars. The Corvair even had a flat cantilevered engine.