[Ads-l] The dainty motoriste, glove boxes, and horse carriages

[Christopher Philippo]

From my brother:
> Some luxury cars still come with pairs of gloves to keep your hands clean while changing tires, making repairs or fueling.  But as far as I know, none of those gloves are actually housed in the glove compartment, but rather in the trunk (a car part which got its name for quite obvious reasons) with sets of tools. 
> 
> Back in the early days of motoring cars didn't have permanent tops, and even once they did, on luxury cars with chauffeurs the driver was still often exposed to the elements. Back in those early days drivers wore gloves, goggles, and caps, so presumably they needed a place to store them.  Much of the terminology used to describe car parts either comes from an obvious functional description (bumper, horn, etc.) or from the world of horse-drawn carriages - for instance body styles such as "shooting brake" (a wagon-type thing) or "spider" (convertible) both come from the horsey world. 
> 
> I've also seen quite a few older cars where the glove boxes were designed to hold alcoholic beverage serving sets! 

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