What do you call the rear compartment of a station wagon or minivan? Many know it as the way back (or wayback), not to be confused with the regular back, which is more likely to have seat belts. This is part of a complete episode.
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In our family it was always called the Backus. Everyone involved was grown up before I finally figured out that the word had nothing to do with the actor who played Mr Magoo and Thurston Howell III; it was my brother's way of pronouncing "backest".
We called that back compartment in our Ford wagon the "rumble seat." Not because any of us kids remembered real rumble seats, but because it was named that by our parents. The name stuck. It actually had 2 fold-out facing seats, and we fought for the privilege of using this special spot.
This takes me back - yes, "way back"! We called the back of our humongous, lumbering station wagon the "way back" when I was growing up in South Dakota. No seat belts, far from supervising eyes (even facing away from our parents) and sticking our bare feet out the back window; sounds like crazy license today, but it was the norm, and we loved it! Thanks for the delicious, long-forgotten summer memory.
I don't remember having a special name for it, other than "the back" (as contrasted with "the middle" Â and "the front" - and don't forget the ever-coveted "shotgun" seat!). Those are the terms we use in our minivan as well. But like Anne W, I do have many memories of riding back there in our station wagon and playing games with our feet, putting up signs for cars behind us, etc. This was on family trips, and also when carpooling to out of town sports events with teammates (when we may have been riding with luggage!)