Originally Posted by Camilo

The Aussies and maybe the Brits and others? call a Mercedes a "Merc" pronounced Merk. It took me a while to figure that one out while watching an Aussie tv series. I thought they were referring to a Mercury car, formerly marketed by Ford in the US (and elsewhere?). Or a Mercury outboard. That's what real American English uses the word Merc/Merk for.