Logos...

You know those tiny little problems you get stuck in your head? The ones that aren't truly of any consequence, but that drive you crazy in the quiet moments between putting out life's daily fires? I get those all the time. Trying to remember who sang "Love the One You're With," the capital of North Carolina, that sort of thing.

Well, most recently I'd been troubled by a certain car logo I hadn't seen in a while. It was sort of a funky circle-looking thing, almost, but not really, like the small "g" you see in certain fonts but could never write by hand (I've tried. I have no idea how anyone came up with that thing). I spent months trying to remember which company it belonged to...a cursory mental inventory revealed that it probably wasn't an American company symbol, since those are pretty easily-recognized and haven't changed much over the years. Then I started clicking through the foreign companies. Originally I could've sworn it was Mazda, but everywhere I look their logo is a stylized "M." Definitely not a funky circular almost-but-not-really "g". And nothing turned up with the common companies either. I remembered Daewoo put out some cars about 10 years ago, and scanned the highways endlessly until I came upon one (they're not at all common here on the East Coast)...and came up with nothing. Theirs looks almost like a creepy snake head.

Finally, I concluded that either I was imagining things, or the logo had been retired. I told myself to let it go, but still in those quiet moments it whispered to me in the back of my mind. This went on for months...I would re-inventory the logos, come up with nothing, and scold myself for beating a dead horse. It gradually became less and less of a concern as I moved on to other pointless quandaries, such as "Carly Simon or Carole King?"

And isn't it appropriate that as soon as we stop trying, the answer comes to us. I have solved countless math problems in the shower. I have recited the Hamlet soliloquy while falling asleep and dreamed useless trivia. And last weekend while we were out & about, the logo suddenly appeared on the car in front of me...a MAZDA! Hah! Immense relief flooded me as I was finally able to put the mystery to rest. And as I looked, I observed that it really looks nothing like a "g" at all, so my mind had altered the image over time I guess. All that remained was mild curiosity as to how the funky-g turned into a flying "M", and this was quickly satisfied by Wikipedia. Where you can find any answer, as long as you take it with a grain of salt.

So, the funky-g logo was in use from 1992-1997, when the present-day logo took over.

Isn't that nice?

PS--Steven Stills. Raleigh. You're So Vain--Carly Simon. It's Too Late--Carole King. Once married to James Taylor--Carly Simon.