[Ads-l] Word: frunk - front trunk of an automobile (1994)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Today while listening to a YouTube video about Tesla automobiles I
heard the word "frunk" again (blend of front and trunk: a trunk space
located at the front of an automobile).

There was a thread about this word back in 2014. Oddly, I do not
recall initiating it. LH noted that "VW bugs used to have such front
trunks". Thus, if the word had been invented many years ago it would
have been useful. Further below I give a 1994 citation for a message
in a VW Usenet newsgroup.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2014-May/132487.html

Nancy Friedman's Fritinancy blog selected frunk as Word of the week on
April 02, 2018.
http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2018/04/word-of-the-week-frunk.html

In 2016 frunk was a "New Word Suggestion" at Collins Dictionary
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/submission/18337/frunk

[Begin excerpt]
frunk
New Word Suggestion
US, a front trunk on a motor vehicle
[End excerpt]

It is difficult (for me) to search the Google Usenet archive, but I
was able to find an instance of frunk in 1994.

Database: Usenet Message
Date: Thu, 01 Sep 1994 04:54:05 -0500
From: Matt Brown @showme.missouri.edu
Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw
Subject: Funny Roadside Story

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.autos.vw/t-E-OnOHrGg/KDOZnc54-C8J

[Begin excerpt]
"Uh, so what's in the front?"
"The trunk." (didn't want to intimidate him with the word frunk)
[End excerpt]

Garson

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