Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

RobertB said
Are you sure the other via is the same?

There are not two definitions of via.

RobertB said
It's a neat way to say 2 families converge to Wyoming from Indiana and South Dakota. But this wouldn't sound right: My family's 2 sides are from Texas via Bangkok and Tokyo. Maybe does too.

In the first sentence I would prefer "converge at Wyoming"   but I can not really say why. The rest is correct indicating two places where their journey began and one place where it ended.   Via is not used because there is no indication of route or method of travel.

The second sentence could be correct if their final destination was Texas, and Bangkok and Tokyo were cities on the route.   It would be clearer if a beginning point were given.   However, if Bangkok and Tokyo are supposed to be two separate beginning points that "converged" at Texas, then "via" should not be used because the route is not indicated, only the beginning and end.

We called that space in our station wagon the "way back" too. It was the 70's, in Florida, but mom & dad were from eastern MA and western PA, respectively.

And Grant & I were apparently living in parallel universes…my folks traded that station wagon in on a Pinto (yes, a red one!), and my mom was an Avon Lady. So when the three of us kids would pile in and do Avon runs with her, you wanted to be the one in the “way back”. Because that's where the orders and “door bags” were, and all you had to do is hand them over the seat, while the others had to take them up to the houses. But mom made sure we took turns. So that was a real hot bargaining commodity between us kids -- usually involving doing one person's chores for their turn in the "way back".

Ahhh, memories!

I grew up in central New York during the '90s and my family used this term. We either had vans or SUVs, not many cars with trunks. That may be the reason for our use of "way back."

I had to create an account just to add that we definitely called it the "way back" when I was growing up in northern California in the '70s and '80s! I always assumed that's just what everyone called it until I heard this episode. I asked my husband what they called it in Vermont and he said "the back," but when I asked him about the "way back" he knew what I meant, too.

Growing up in the 50's in Iowa, I had seven siblings.   My mom almost HAD to drive a station wagon.   Some of us always had to sit in the rearmost, rear-facing seat.   It folded up to take the rear half of the cargo area behind the back seat.   We called it the 'wayback seat' or just the 'wayback', because it was 'all the way back' or 'way in the back'.   We knew it was kind of a joke but we also didn't know a real name for it.   It was like a rumble seat, but those faced forward, so this was different.   Anyway, we thought 'wayback' was a good joke.

I had no idea that the Wayback Machine was actually WABAC. I wonder if it ever was spelled out in the cartoon, or if the joke spelling appears only in the scripts. I dug up this episode in which the Wayback Machine is invented and presented in hopes that they might reference the acronym or what it stands for. It is a fascinating view, regardless of failing to find the spelling WABAC on it.
Origin show

Has anyone discovered solid evidence in the show of the WABAC spelling, aside from the analogy to UNIVAC, ENIAC, etc.? (c.f. Brainiac.) How do we know it's not, for instance, WAYBAC as it is here, as reported directly by "the last living director of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Gerard Baldwin"? Anyone found a script online or anything?

It's certainly far from conclusive, but check out this from the FAQ at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. They seem to think it was originally spelled "WABAC" on Rocky and Bullwinkle. Couldn't find a direct citation anywhere on their website though. They do have a Contact link, but I have a feeling it might be difficult to reach a person who could really answer that question.