Beaver car

[Sam Clements]

There's also, in the NYTimes, a 1979 article about games to play on road
trips in a car.  The writer calls it "Beaver" and says that they are station
wagons.  I think she was probably old enough to remember when she would take
road trips and do this.  That, of course, doesn't suggest why Beaver=station
wagon.  Almost certainly, the "woodie/woody" connection is correct.

Sam Clements
----- Original Message -----
From: "Benjamin Barrett" <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2008 19:02
Subject: Re: Beaver car


> 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

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