Beaver car

[Benjamin Barrett]

There's are comments at http://www.flickr.com/photos/oybay/2231349232/
about a Ford Country Squire where one person says they used to call it
a woody and the other a beaver. As can be seen in the photo and at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Country_Squire
, the word "woody" probably comes from the wood siding. I wonder if
"beaver" is a play on that?

There's also a comment about a Mustang at http://forum.teamxbox.com/archive/index.php/t-232874.html
, where fausenbaug says "yeah, its gonna be a pretty kick angry beaver
car. I like the stylings of the ealier models." I think "beaver" here
either means "woman-getter" or is else just random.

Wikipedia mentions a few other Beaver vehicles at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_%28disambiguation%29
.

BB

On Aug 9, 2008, at 1:41 PM, Barbara Need 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.

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