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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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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" 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!)
We called it the "back back," and yes, it was the favorite place to sit because of the freedom from parental control that one enjoyed there. I've never heard "wayback" used for that special place, but I wonder if it's related to the "Wayback Machine" on the "Mr. Peabody" segment of the Rocky & Bullwinkle//Rocky and His Friends TV show. Mr. Peabody was a brilliant talking dog (a beagle, as I recall) who had a professorial air and a pet boy, Sherman; together they would visit famous people in history, using their Wayback Machine...I just googled "Mister Peabody," and learned that it's actually spelled WABAC, which is supposed to be "a take-off on early computer acronyms such as UNIVAC and ENIAC."
I've heard it called the wayback, but I can't remember where.
What I'm curious about is the name for the type of car which has a wayback. Here in the UK and Ireland, such an elongated model is usually called an estate, but we have a seven-seater which is described on one of the registration documents as a station wagon and on the other as a shooting brake. The former, sounding American, seems self explanatory, but shooting brake seems very odd.
Whoa, Glenn ... I had totally forgotten about that rear shelf in early sedans. We had one of those before the station wagon I referred to in my previous post. It was actually big enough to use as a shelf. Of course, it wasn't the best place to stow things, as the law of inertia will tell you. But when we were much smaller, I recall fighting over that spot too. And we could fit into it easily. These days there aren't that many models that have those rear shelves.
RobertB said
I guess via means, like, 'and earlier...' I have never seen that. Sorry totally off topic.
Topics change easily without complaints. Via means "by way of." Either a route that is taken for travel or a method of travel. For example, "I traveled to Oklahoma via Interstate 35" and "I sent my letter via air mail."
Martha Barnette
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