Undermine’s D.R.I.V.E. acronym in all other languages, ranked from best to worst

One of the more unique features added in The War Within patch 11.1 was the Dynamic and Revolutionary Improvements to Vehicular Experiences (D.R.I.V.E.) system, giving each player an incredibly fast hot rod to blast around Undermine. As you are working on perfecting your technique and minimizing the number of Goblins that need to dive out of your way as you drift onto the side of the road, you may have wondered how the D.R.I.V.E. acronym works in other languages.

As a huge fan of spaceflight in all of its forms, there’s nothing more amusing to me than an acronym that started out as a normal-sounding set of words and then was beaten with blunt instruments beyond recognition into a convenient and catchy nickname. Take a ride with me as I don the Driving Gloves of Linguistic Nonsense and give you my opinions on which translations lead the pack and which ones are bringing up the rear.

A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

The Portuguese localization is Valiosa e Revolucionária Unidade de Melhoria de Motor, meaning Valuable and Revolutionary Engine Improvement Unit and abbreviated as V.R.U.M.M. While “engine improvement” is a bit specific for a system where you can customize quite a few of your ride’s components, I am always tickled by the translation of noises into other languages. In Portuguese, bees say “zum”, clocks go “tique-taque”, and cars go “vruum”.

In German we’ve got F.A.H.R.E.N.  — Fahren auf höchster Rangstufe des erlebbaren Nervenkitzels, or Driving at the Highest Level of Experiential Thrills. A solid-sounding description, and bonus points for the first word in the acronym being the acronym itself (both meaning ‘drive’). Crashing my G-99 Breakneck into a dumpster for the first time gave me plenty of nervenkitzels.

As a freelance gaming and tabletop writer, I am often called on to research things appropriate to those hobbies such as how acronyms work in syllabic writing. While you shouldn’t trust me to serve as translator on your next vacation, I am fairly confident in the Korean localization of D.R.I.V.E being “고차원적인 속도와 주행 혁신”, which approximately means High-dimensional Speed and Driving Innovation. For short, it’s “고.속.주”, or “High Speed Driving”.

Rounding out the best localizations is the French Véhicule Résolument Original et Ultra-Modernis (V.R.O.U.M.) meaning Resolutely Original and Ultra-Modernized Vehicle. I am highly amused by the idea of a line of cars revving their engines at a starting line, only for a French driver to pull up and do the same with a slightly fancier noise.

N.O.T.S.O.M.U.C.H.

I’m not impressed by the European Spanish Conducción Avanzada y Revolucionaria por la Renovación Operativa, or Advanced and Revolutionary Driving for Operational Renewal. Making the acronym come out to the word for ‘car’ doesn’t feel like something a Goblin would be satisfied with. Also, operational renewal sounds like we’ll be standing in line at the DMV instead of careening around Undermine’s streets.

In Italian, the system is known as G.U.I.D.A. — Gestionale dell’Utilitaria Improntata alla Dislocazione Automatica, meaning Utility Vehicle Management System Designed for Automatic Dislocation. ‘Guide’ doesn’t fit quite right for a system of vehicular customization, although automatic dislocation is a cuttingly accurate summary of my first week in the driver’s seat.

The Latin American Spanish localization came out to Máxima Opulencia Terrestre de Omnimovimiento Rápido (M.O.T.O.R.), which translates to Maximum Terrestrial Opulence of Rapid Omnimovement. It sounds a bit like a biblically accurate description of how angels get from one place to another.

All kidding aside, the World of Warcraft localization teams did an admirable job with their attempts to bring this acronym to other languages. I hope their process was less stressful than when they needed to translate the poems, puzzles, and clues from the hunt for Incognitro, the Indecipherable Felcycle.