clunker, junker (1936)

[Alison Murie]

On May 12, 2009, at 2:31 PM, Charles Doyle wrote:

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> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: clunker, junker (1936)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1934  John Edwin Hogg, "The Bogey of War in the Air," _Forum and
> Century_ 92 (Dec.): 345:  "The modern five-inch anti-aircraft gun
> handling high-explosive shells bears about as much resemblance to
> its World War prototype as a 1935 motor car compared with the
> unreliable old 'klunker' of 1900."
>
> May we assume that well before the end of 1934 (as is the practice
> today) the next year's automobile models were already being sold?
>
> Mencken (in supplement 2, p. 725) also spelled the word "klunker."
>
> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
>> Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 01:22:30 -0400
>> From: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>>> My latest Word Routes column is on automotive "clunkers" and
>>> "junkers":
>>
>> http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/1849/
>>
>> I mention this antedating for both "clunker" (HDAS 1942) and
>> "junker" (HDAS 1948):
>>
>> 1936 Walter Winchell ("On Broadway" syndicated column) _Wisconsin
>> State Journal_ 23 Apr. 4/7 Regarding the word "jollopy" which a
>> Mirror editorial writer recently wondered about. He said: "What's
>> it really mean?" A Detroit man says jollopy means an old car,
>> junkers, old hacks, rattlers, clunkers. They are the headaches of
>> the auto dealer.
>>
>>
>> --Ben Zimmer
>
~~~~~~~~~~
My recollection is that before the war, as after, the next year's
models came out in September.
AM

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