[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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