The Governator was the star panelist in a discussion last weekend in the National Governors Conference about the infrastructure crisis. It was generally a smart and useful chat. (We’ve got more to say about it, in fact — stay tuned). But this moment really jumped out at us:

SCHWARZENEGGER: [Gov. Rendell, Mayor Bloomberg and I] happen to be very passionate, all three of us, very passionate about infrastructure. [...]

We in California have made a big move forward in that area because the people of California have approved $42 billion of infrastructure.[...]. I think that was a really big, big step forward and I think that the federal government has to do obviously the same thing.

The important thing is that we look at how do we get the people enthusiastic about the subject? Because the word infrastructure means nothing to the majority of people of America. We have to come up with a sexier word than infrastructure. So the key thing is that you have to go out and promote and market this the right way like with everything in policy.

[In California] we went out and didnʹt talk about infrastructure but we talked about are you angry about getting stuck in traffic every day, and you cannot spend enough time with your family and with your children? That really aroused anger in most of the people and we said vote yes on those propositions.

So we got them really focused on those things you know and talked about that the levees that we have in California are 100 years old and if thereʹs an earthquake or if thereʹs a big storm it would be disastrous and hundreds of thousands will get wiped out and it actually will make Katrina look small compared to what would happen in California.

That woke them up.

This actually seems like a rather serious point (and one that public works guru Felix Rohatyn made yesterday). It’s not a good word. It’s long and twice in rapid succession entails three ugly consonant sounds all jammed together. So let’s throw it open: Can you come up with a snappy word for “infrastructure”? Post any suggestions (serious or not) in the comments section. Over coming weeks we’ll revisit the question and hopefully field some legitimate options.