Flivvers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term used to describe small, inexpensive cars typically from the early 20th century
2. It can also refer to any flimsy or poorly made vehicle, often associated with low quality
3. Additionally, it signifies a light or trivial matter, evoking a sense of frivolity or insignificance

Etymology: The word "flivvers" is simply the plural of "flivver," and the singular is the more interesting half of the story. In the early twentieth century, "flivver" was slang for a cheap, rattling automobile, and the cartoonist Tad Dorgan claimed in 1919 that he had coined it in his comic strip Judge Rummy, where he first applied it to the Ford car. A book titled "At the Front in a Flivver," published in 1917, shows the term was already in circulation by then, so Dorgan's claim is best read as a claim to popularity rather than invention. The word's exact origin remains unknown. Nobody has pinned down a convincing source, and the slang seems to have appeared suddenly in American speech around the time of the First World War, when cheap motor cars were becoming common. The sense of "a trivial matter," which the word also carries, grew out of the older automobile sense, as a small, insignificant thing that is hardly worth bothering about.

Synonyms: small cars, light vehicles