REH Word of the Week: flivver
Monday, September 21, 2009
posted by Barbara Barrett
flivver
noun
1. slang. an automobile, especially one that is small, inexpensive and old.
[origin: 1905-1910; Americanism; origin unknown]
HOWARD’S USAGE:
Now flapper ridden flivvers whiz
Along the ancient road.
An Armours’ packinghouse does biz
When once King Bahthur strode.
Bootleggers slink along the paths
Where knights kissed ladies’ hands,
Where shield crashed shield in tourney great
A filling station stands.
Centuries gone, those noble knights,
Forgot, their helmets rust,
Yet in their homage let us sing,
“Flourish the packing trust!”
[from "L'Envoi (4)"; to read the complete poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 557]
