Beaver car

Barbara Need bhneed at GMAIL.COM
Sat Aug 9 23:32:54 UTC 2008


Thank you!

I agree that my parents probably though this (and the alphabet game,
finding words on stationary signs in alphabetical order) were games
that kept the five of us from hitting each other and making
distracting noises.

Barbara

On 9 Aug 2008, at 17:19, Mark Mandel wrote:

> The word isn't specific to your family. In the 50s we played Beaver on
> car trips. The first child  to call out "Beaver!" on spotting a
> station wagon -- & I remember the wooden sides, but not if they were
> required -- scored a point, & that car could not be counted again. The
> winner was the first to reach a specified score.
>
> The real winners were our parents, since we were, if not quiet, at
> least occupied.
>
> On 8/9/08, Barbara Need <bhneed at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Is anyone else familiar with this term? It refers to a station wagon
>> with wood (veneer) sides. A game we played on trips when I was a
>> child (1960s) was to be the first to spot a "beaver car". I do not
>> know how the phrase originated (I will ask my mom when I next speak
>> to her). It is possible it has something to do with visits we made to
>> friends in Beaver Falls, PA (from near Cleveland), but I don't know.
>>
>> I tried to do a Google search, but what seemed to be getting was car
>> dealerships in places with Beaver as (part of) the name.

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