[Ads-l] dodgem cars
Amy West
medievalist at W-STS.COM
Fri Apr 3 13:16:25 UTC 2015
I just spotted the term "dodgem cars" in a letter to the editor in the
Worcester Telegram & Gazette yesterday. It's what I call "bumper cars".
A quick Google Ngram search shows that "dodgem cars" outnumbered "bumper
cars" from 40s-60s (if all the hits check out), but now "bumper cars" is
the really (massively) dominant form. I actually like "dodgem" better
than "bumper": it's neat how each term is emphasizing a different aspect
of the ride.
No, I haven't checked HDAS or DARE yet: I'll be on campus where I can later.
---Amy West
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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