On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 22:53:07 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

It's the same etymology, Jeff. Fenders on a car are so named because they
fend off other cars, or possibly cows. Incidentally, in Britain, fenders
really can fend off things--they are what Americans call "bumpers."


Ah yes, and I'm old enough to remember when cars HAD bumpers, not the
wussy things they still call bumpers which get scarred from their first
kiss.

I also remember "bumper bolts"; Chromed carriage bolts which held the
old chromed bumpers onto their brackets.

Jeff

I can remember when you jacked up a car by the bumper. Nowdays hit a
curb and its $800 in repairs

Gunner

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better,
on average, than the citizens of Baltimore.
True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee,
but why this is more stylish than
sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know."
-- P.J O'Rourke (1989)
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