putt-putt
n.— «The Owen Sound lawyer shelved his legal briefs for a few days to navigate the Canadian Shield in a track motorcar—an odd and colourful contraption used by railroads to inspect lines and transport work crews until the machines were gradually phased out by the 1980s.…The cars are affectionately known as poppers and putt-putts for the sound of the older engines that have an ignition sparked by a hand crank, much like a Ford Model T. And they’re called speeders because, at about 50 kilometres per hour, the mechanized machines raced past the old hand cars they replaced.» —“Pleasure in a putt-putt; Tourists travel by rail on track motorcars” by Maria Calabrese Nugget (North Bay, Ontario, Canada) July 20, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and distribute used dictionaries to help inmates with...
Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuries, everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern...