[Ads-l] dodgem cars

[Amy West]

On 4/4/15 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Fri, 3 Apr 2015 06:33:47 -0700
> From:    Arnold Zwicky<zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject: Re: dodgem cars
>
>> >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.
> the wikipedia page --
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumper_cars
> thinks "bumper cars" is the predominant US variant and that "dodgems" is the*only*  variant in the UK.
>
> and it tells us that "dodgem" was originally a brand name:
>
> During their heyday (in the late 1920s through 1950s), the two major bumper cars brands were Dodgem (by Max and Harold Stoehrer of Methuen, MA)
That would explain the use by someone from Worcester, MA.
> and the Lusse Brothers' Auto-Skooter (by Joseph and Robert 'Ray' Lusse of Philadelphia.
>
>
Thanks for doing my homework for me, arnold. :-)
---Amy

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