another "flivver" antedating (?) the cheap vehicle sense

[Stephen Goranson]

In the archives are uses of "flivver" earlier than 1910, which is the date of OED's earliest quote for its sense 1, cheap car etc.; OED's sense 2, failure etc., is attested there only from 1915.

Here is one of the attestations that (on the evidence so far available) suggests the failure sense predated the vehicle sense.

The Green Book Album [Chicago],Vol. 2 no. 9, December, 1909, p. 1290, col. 2.

"We've got a lot of gilt cannons and military uniforms for the chorus," explains the stage director, "that came out of that flivver 'The West Point Girl' that was closed last week. We want to use 'em while they're new and fresh, ...."

http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22came+out+of+that+flivver%22&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan+1_2+1900,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1909&num=10

Stephen Goranson
www.duke.edu/~goranson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org