111-435: A station wagon ( US , also wagon ) or estate car ( UK , also estate ) is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door (the liftgate , or tailgate ), instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar , as well as
222-698: A cot–caught merger , which is rapidly spreading throughout the whole country. However, the South, Inland North, and a Northeastern coastal corridor passing through Rhode Island, New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore typically preserve an older cot–caught distinction. For that Northeastern corridor, the realization of the THOUGHT vowel is particularly marked , as depicted in humorous spellings, like in tawk and cawfee ( talk and coffee ), which intend to represent it being tense and diphthongal : [oə] . A split of TRAP into two separate phonemes , using different
333-451: A platform shared with other body styles, resulting in many shared components (such as chassis, engine, transmission, bodywork forward of the A-pillar, interior features, and optional features) being used for the wagon, sedan, and hatchback variants of the model range . Many modern station wagons have an upward-swinging, full-width, full-height rear door supported on gas springs —often where
444-520: A pronunciations for example in gap [æ] versus gas [eə] , further defines New York City as well as Philadelphia–Baltimore accents. Most Americans preserve all historical /r/ sounds, using what is known as a rhotic accent . The only traditional r -dropping (or non-rhoticity) in regional U.S. accents variably appears today in eastern New England , New York City , and some of the former plantation South primarily among older speakers (and, relatedly, some African-American Vernacular English across
555-427: A 2004 model. Advertisements for the new Envoy XUV incorrectly touted the feature as "first-ever." An additional feature adopted by GMC was the power operation of the roof section and a movable partition between the passenger area and cargo space. The Envoy XUV model was discontinued in 2005. Similarly to the record of Studebaker's innovative Wagonaire, General Motors also produced about 12,000 sliding roof XUVs during
666-412: A D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a station wagon as "an automobile with one or more rows of folding or removable seats behind the driver and no luggage compartment but an area behind the seats into which suitcases, parcels, etc., can be loaded through
777-399: A V8, Carter 4-barrel carburetor , and a column mounted shifter manual transmission with overdrive . Bucket front seats along with a center console-mounted automatic transmission selector were available. The Wagonaire could also be ordered with any of Studebaker's available "R-series" high-performance Avanti V8 engines and a four-speed floor-shift manual transmission. Matchbox -Lesney made
888-601: A car underpinning and a wagon body. Imported station wagons, despite remaining popular in other countries, struggled in the United States. European car manufacturers such as Audi, Volvo, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz continued to offer station wagons in their North American product ranges (marketed using the labels "Avant", "Touring", and "Estate" respectively). However, these vehicles had fewer trim and power train levels than their sedan counterparts. The Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG in Estate trim
999-616: A complex phenomenon of "both convergence and divergence": some accents are homogenizing and leveling , while others are diversifying and deviating further away from one another. Having been settled longer than the American West Coast, the East Coast has had more time to develop unique accents, and it currently comprises three or four linguistically significant regions, each of which possesses English varieties both different from each other as well as quite internally diverse: New England ,
1110-447: A consonant, such as in pearl , car and fort . Non-rhotic American accents, those that do not pronounce ⟨r⟩ except before a vowel, such as some accents of Eastern New England , New York City , and African-Americans , and a specific few (often older ones) spoken by Southerners , are often quickly noticed by General American listeners and perceived as sounding especially ethnic, regional, or antiquated. Rhoticity
1221-424: A forward-facing third-row seat and the clamshell tailgate, was less popular with consumers and was described as the "least convenient of all wagon arrangements" with difficult passenger egress and problematic tailgate operation in comparison to the 1974 AMC Ambassador , Dodge Monaco , and Mercury Colony Park , full-size station wagons conducted by Popular Science magazine. Subsequent GM full-size wagons reverted to
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#17328594471191332-455: A hatch or rear door (often called a tailgate in the case of a station wagon) that is hinged at roof level. Folding rear seats designed to provide a larger space for cargo in place of passenger capacity, are also typical features for station wagons and hatchbacks. Distinguishing features between hatchbacks and station wagons include: Other differences are more variable and can potentially include: It has become common for station wagons to use
1443-508: A lower tailgate counterbalanced by a torque rod similar to the torque rods used in holding a trunk lid open. It required a 35-pound (16 kg) push to lower the gate. Raising it required a 35-pound (16 kg) pull on a handhold integral to the top edge of the retractable gate. Power-assisted operation of both the upper glass and lower tailgate became standard equipment in later model years. Station wagons with this design were available with an optional third row of forward-facing seats accessed by
1554-586: A merger with the THOUGHT ( caught ) set. Having taken place prior to the unrounding of the cot vowel, it results in lengthening and perhaps raising, merging the more recently separated vowel into the THOUGHT vowel in the following environments: before many instances of /f/ , /θ/ , and particularly /s/ (as in Austria, cloth, cost, loss, off, often, etc.), a few instances before /ŋ/ (as in strong, long, wrong ), and variably by region or speaker in gone , on , and certain other words. Unlike American accents,
1665-476: A miniature Wagonaire that included a sliding roof section. The scale model was available for many years after Studebaker stopped production of the actual vehicle. Husky Toys also manufactured a model Wagonaire that was similar in size to the Matchbox product and also featured the sliding rear roof panel. The concept of the retractable roof was picked up by General Motors for a model in its GMC Envoy line in 2003 as
1776-510: A new line Studebakers that included a station wagon named "Skyview" that featured a partially retractable rear roof section. However, the automaker had no resources to develop new cars so Stevens came up with low-cost updates to modernize the Lark line. Studebaker developed the Wagonaire version using the standard Lark station wagon body that was modified above the beltline. The roof was designed with
1887-636: A nice day , for sure); many are now distinctly old-fashioned (swell, groovy). Some English words now in general use, such as hijacking, disc jockey , boost, bulldoze and jazz , originated as American slang. American English has always shown a marked tendency to use words in different parts of speech and nouns are often used as verbs . Examples of nouns that are now also verbs are interview, advocate, vacuum, lobby, pressure, rear-end, transition, feature, profile, hashtag, head, divorce, loan, estimate, X-ray, spearhead, skyrocket, showcase, bad-mouth, vacation , major, and many others. Compounds coined in
1998-475: A panel over the cargo bay that was manually retracted into and then locked into position in the forward section of the roof. The mechanism includes a simple pair of tracks that allow the rear roof panel to slide forward over the headliner which is lowered to provide clearance. This configuration allowed Studebaker to boast that the Wagonaire could transport items (such as standard size refrigerators ) in an upright position. Wagonaires seated six passengers (five with
2109-475: A process of extensive dialect mixture and leveling in which English varieties across the colonies became more homogeneous compared with the varieties in Britain. English thus predominated in the colonies even by the end of the 17th century's first immigration of non-English speakers from Western Europe and Africa. Additionally, firsthand descriptions of a fairly uniform American English (particularly in contrast to
2220-410: A retractable rear roof section and a conventional rear tailgate with a window that rolled down and the gate opened down. The sliding roof section allowed the carrying of tall objects in the rear cargo area. This configuration appeared on the 1963–1966 Studebaker Wagonaire station wagon and the 1998-2009 GMC Envoy XUV SUV model. In the United States, Ford's full-size station wagons for 1966 introduced
2331-657: A series of other vowel shifts in the same region, known by linguists as the " Inland North ". The Inland North shares with the Eastern New England dialect (including Boston accents ) a backer tongue positioning of the GOOSE /u/ vowel (to [u] ) and the MOUTH /aʊ/ vowel (to [ɑʊ~äʊ] ) in comparison to the rest of the country. Ranging from northern New England across the Great Lakes to Minnesota, another Northern regional marker
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#17328594471192442-530: A station wagon counterpart, the 2010 CTS Sportwagon, which defied the trend by offering almost as many trim levels as its sedan counterpart. The CTS wagon, particularly in the performance CTS-V trim, received positive reviews until it was discontinued in 2014. In 2011, the Toyota Prius V introduced hybrid power to the compact wagon market, but was discontinued in 2017 to streamline the Toyota hybrid lineup and focus on
2553-529: A suitable solution to resume volume production. While the early roof seals were redesigned and improved, it was also critical that the drainage tubes in the roof slider assembly be kept clear. A series of service letters were sent to dealers to address this problem, but early negative reports probably tarnished the design. Fixed-roof station wagons were rushed into production alongside the Wagonaire and became available in January 1963. These sold for US$ 100 less than
2664-458: A survey, completed in 2003, polling English speakers across the United States about their specific everyday word choices, hoping to identify regionalisms. The study found that most Americans prefer the term sub for a long sandwich, soda (but pop in the Great Lakes region and generic coke in the South) for a sweet and bubbly soft drink , you or you guys for the plural of you (but y'all in
2775-435: A system marketed as "Magic Doorgate"—a conventional tailgate with retracting rear glass, where the tailgate could either fold down or pivot open on a side hinge—with the rear window retracted in either case. Competitors marketed their versions as a Drop and Swing or Dual Action Tailgate. For 1969, Ford incorporated a design that allowed the rear glass to remain up or down when the door pivoted open on its side hinge, marketing
2886-461: A tailgate." When a model range includes multiple body styles, such as sedan, hatchback , and station wagon, the models typically share their platform , drivetrain , and bodywork forward of the A-pillar, and usually the B-pillar. In 1969, Popular Mechanics said, "Station wagon-style ... follows that of the production sedan of which it is the counterpart. Most are on the same wheelbase, offer
2997-410: A two-door body style. Several manufacturers produced steel and wooden-bodied station wagons concurrently for several years. For example, Plymouth continued the production of wooden-bodied station wagons until 1950. The final wooden-bodied station built in the United States was the 1953 Buick Super Estate . By 1951, most station wagons were being produced with all-steel bodies. Station wagons experienced
3108-453: A variation of American English in these islands. In 2021, about 245 million Americans, aged 5 or above, spoke English at home: a majority of the United States total population of roughly 330 million people. The United States has never had an official language at the federal level, but English is commonly used at the federal level and in states without an official language. 32 of the 50 states, in some cases as part of what has been called
3219-402: A waterproofing dressing. The framing of the wooden bodies was sheathed in steel and coated with tinted lacquer for protection. These wooden bodies required constant maintenance: varnishes required re-coating, and expansion/contraction of the wood meant that bolts and screws needed periodic re-tightening. Manufacture of the wooden bodies was initially outsourced to custom coachbuilders , because
3330-656: A wooden wagon body shipped in from an outside supplier). One of the first builders of wagon bodies was the Stoughton Wagon Company from Wisconsin, which began putting custom wagon bodies on the Ford Model T chassis in 1919 and by 1929 the Ford Motor Company was the biggest producer of chassis' for station wagons. Since Ford owned its own hardwood forest and mills (at the Ford Iron Mountain Plant in what
3441-524: Is a performance station wagon offered in the U.S. market. The station wagon variants of the smaller Mercedes-Benz C-Class line-up were dropped in 2007, and the BMW 5 Series Touring models were discontinued in 2010 due to slow sales in the United States, with only 400 wagons sold in 2009. In 2012, the Volvo V50 compact station wagon was withdrawn from the U.S. market due to poor sales. The Cadillac CTS gave rise to
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3552-642: Is also associated with the United States, perhaps mostly in the Midwest and the South. American accents that have not undergone the cot–caught merger (the lexical sets LOT and THOUGHT ) have instead retained a LOT – CLOTH split : a 17th-century distinction in which certain words (labeled as the CLOTH lexical set ) separated away from the LOT set. The split, which has now reversed in most British English, simultaneously shifts this relatively recent CLOTH set into
3663-637: Is also home to a creole language known commonly as Hawaiian Pidgin , and some Hawaii residents speak English with a Pidgin-influenced accent. American English also gave rise to some dialects outside the country, for example, Philippine English , beginning during the American occupation of the Philippines and subsequently the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands ; Thomasites first established
3774-438: Is called "universal". Manufacturers may designate station wagons across various model lines with a proprietary nameplate for marketing and advertising differentiation. Examples include "Avant", "Break", "Caravan", "Kombi", "Sports Tourer", "Sports Wagon", "Tourer", "Touring", and "Variant". Station wagons and hatchbacks have in common a two-box design configuration, a shared interior volume for passengers and cargo as well as
3885-514: Is called an "estate car" or "estate" in the United Kingdom or a "wagon" in Australia and New Zealand. Either horse-drawn or automotive, the earliest use of the station wagon description would be considered to describe utility vehicles or light trucks. The depot hackney or taxi, often on a Model T chassis with an exposed wood body, most often found around railroad stations, was the predecessor of
3996-526: Is common in most American accents despite being now rare in England because, during the 17th-century British colonization, nearly all dialects of English were rhotic, and most North American English simply remained that way. The preservation of rhoticity in North America was also supported by continuing waves of rhotic-accented Scotch-Irish immigrants, most intensely during the 18th century (and moderately during
4107-420: Is often identified by Americans as a "country" accent, and is defined by the /aɪ/ vowel losing its gliding quality : [aː] , the initiation event for a complicated Southern vowel shift, including a " Southern drawl " that makes short front vowels into distinct-sounding gliding vowels . The fronting of the vowels of GOOSE , GOAT , MOUTH , and STRUT tends to also define Southern accents as well as
4218-498: Is the common language at home, in public, and in government. Studebaker Wagonaire The Studebaker Wagonaire was a station wagon produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana , from 1963–1966. It featured a retractable sliding rear roof section that allowed the vehicle to carry items that would otherwise be too tall for a conventional station wagon of the era. Studebaker Wagonaire's roof design
4329-635: Is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States ; the de facto common language used in government, education, and commerce; and an official language in 32 of the 50 U.S. states . Since the late 20th century, American English has become the most influential form of English worldwide. Varieties of American English include many patterns of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and particularly spelling that are unified nationwide but distinct from other English dialects around
4440-463: Is the variable fronting of /ɑ/ before /r/ , for example, appearing four times in the stereotypical Boston shibboleth Park the car in Harvard Yard . Several other phenomena serve to distinguish regional U.S. accents. Boston , Pittsburgh , Upper Midwestern , and Western U.S. accents have fully completed a merger of the LOT vowel with the THOUGHT vowel ( /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ , respectively):
4551-571: Is today Kingsford, Michigan in Michigan's Upper Peninsula) it began supplying the wood components for the Model A station wagon. Also in 1929, J.T. Cantrell began supplying woodie bodies for Chrysler vehicles, which continued until 1931. By the 1930s, station wagons had become expensive and well-equipped vehicles. When it was introduced in 1941, the Chrysler Town & Country was the most expensive car in
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4662-511: The Buick Estate models) featured a 'clam shell' design marketed as the Glide-away tailgate, also called a "disappearing" tailgate because when open, the tailgate was entirely out of view. On the clamshell design, the rear power-operated glass slid up into the roof and the lower tailgate (with either manual or optional power operation), lowered below the load floor. Manually operated types included
4773-476: The English-only movement , have adopted legislation granting official or co-official status to English. Typically only "English" is specified, not a particular variety like American English. (From 1923 to 1969, the state of Illinois recognized its official language as "American", meaning American English.) Puerto Rico is the largest example of a United States territory in which another language – Spanish –
4884-641: The Ford Country Squire station wagon models from the lower trim versions. The "Squire" trim level was an available option in a few different Ford model ranges, including the Falcon Squire , Fairlane Squire , and the 1970s the Pinto Squire . The Squire was the highest trim level of any Ford Wagon and included additional exterior and better interior trims. American English American English , sometimes called United States English or U.S. English ,
4995-562: The Mercedes-AMG C63 , Mercedes-AMG E63 , BMW M5 (E60/E61) , Volkswagen Golf R and Volkswagen Passat R36 wagons. The Cadillac CTS-V Wagon introduced for the 2011 model year was considered the most potent production station wagon offered with a manual transmission, and the Corvette-engined version continued until 2014. The first station wagons were built in around 1910 by independent manufacturers producing wooden custom bodies for
5106-608: The Mid-Atlantic states (including a New York accent as well as a unique Philadelphia–Baltimore accent ), and the South . As of the 20th century, the middle and eastern Great Lakes area , Chicago being the largest city with these speakers, also ushered in certain unique features, including the fronting of the LOT /ɑ/ vowel in the mouth toward [a] and tensing of the TRAP /æ/ vowel wholesale to [eə] . These sound changes have triggered
5217-544: The Native American languages . Examples of such names are opossum , raccoon , squash , moose (from Algonquian ), wigwam , and moccasin . American English speakers have integrated traditionally non-English terms and expressions into the mainstream cultural lexicon; for instance, en masse , from French ; cookie , from Dutch ; kindergarten from German , and rodeo from Spanish . Landscape features are often loanwords from French or Spanish, and
5328-714: The francophile tastes of the 19th century Victorian era Britain (for example they preferred programme for program , manoeuvre for maneuver , cheque for check , etc.). AmE almost always uses -ize in words like realize . BrE prefers -ise , but also uses -ize on occasion (see: Oxford spelling ). There are a few differences in punctuation rules. British English is more tolerant of run-on sentences , called " comma splices " in American English, and American English prefers that periods and commas be placed inside closing quotation marks even in cases in which British rules would place them outside. American English also favors
5439-575: The minivan would soon eclipse them in popularity. The CAFE standards provided an advantage to minivans (and later SUVs) over station wagons because the minivans and SUVs were classified as trucks in the United States and, therefore subject to less stringent fuel economy and emissions regulations. Station wagons remained popular in Europe and in locations where emissions and efficiency regulations did not distinguish between cars and light trucks. The emergence and popularity of SUVs , which closely approximate
5550-759: The 18th century; apartment , shanty in the 19th century; project, condominium , townhouse , mobile home in the 20th century; and parts thereof ( driveway , breezeway, backyard ) . Industry and material innovations from the 19th century onwards provide distinctive new words, phrases, and idioms through railroading (see further at rail terminology ) and transportation terminology, ranging from types of roads ( dirt roads , freeways ) to infrastructure ( parking lot , overpass , rest area ), to automotive terminology often now standard in English internationally. Already existing English words—such as store , shop , lumber —underwent shifts in meaning; others remained in
5661-448: The 1940s. Cargo barriers may be used to prevent unsecured cargo from causing injuries in the event of sudden deceleration, collision, or a rollover . Performance models of station wagons have included the 1970 Ford Falcon (XY) 'Grand Sport' pack, the 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS-454 and the 1992 BMW M5 (E34) . The 1994 Audi RS2 , developed with Porsche, has been described as the world's first performance station wagon. This
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#17328594471195772-408: The 1960s, long after station wagons became car-based. The first all-steel station wagon was the 1935 Chevrolet Suburban , which was built on the chassis of a panel truck . However, most station wagons were produced with wooden bodies until after World War II. When automobile production resumed after World War II, technological advances made all-steel station wagon bodies more practical, eliminating
5883-534: The 20th century. The use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization of the Americas . The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America during the early 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 17th and 18th centuries, dialects from many different regions of England and the British Isles existed in every American colony, allowing
5994-622: The British form is a back-formation , such as AmE burglarize and BrE burgle (from burglar ). However, while individuals usually use one or the other, both forms will be widely understood and mostly used alongside each other within the two systems. While written American English is largely standardized across the country and spoken American English dialects are highly mutually intelligible, there are still several recognizable regional and ethnic accents and lexical distinctions. The regional sounds of present-day American English are reportedly engaged in
6105-413: The East Coast (perhaps in imitation of 19th-century London speech), even the East Coast has gradually begun to restore rhoticity, due to it becoming nationally prestigious in the 20th century. The pronunciation of ⟨r⟩ is a postalveolar approximant [ ɹ̠ ] or retroflex approximant [ ɻ ] , but a unique "bunched tongue" variant of the approximant r sound
6216-462: The Ford Model T chassis. They were initially called "depot hacks" because they worked around train depots as hacks (short for hackney carriage , as taxicabs were then known). They also came to be known as "carryalls" and "suburbans". Station wagons were initially considered commercial vehicles (rather than consumer automobiles) and the framing of the early station wagons was left unfinished, due to
6327-565: The Inland North. Rather than one particular accent, General American is best defined as an umbrella covering an American accent that does not incorporate features associated with some particular region, ethnicity, or socioeconomic group. Typical General American features include rhoticity , the father–bother merger , Mary–marry–merry merger , pre-nasal "short a " tensing , and other particular vowel sounds . General American features are embraced most by Americans who are highly educated or in
6438-600: The RAV4 Hybrid Crossover SUV. The 2015 VW Golf Sportwagen was marketed as a sub-compact station wagon in the North American market. This model was withdrawn from the U.S. market after 2019. In 2016, Volvo reintroduced a large wagon to the U.S. market with the Volvo V90 , but only by special order. As the wooden bodies were replaced by steel from 1945 until 1953, manufacturers applied wooden decorative trim to
6549-560: The South), sneakers for athletic shoes (but often tennis shoes outside the Northeast), and shopping cart for a cart used for carrying supermarket goods. American English and British English (BrE) often differ at the levels of phonology, phonetics, vocabulary, and, to a much lesser extent, grammar and orthography. The first large American dictionary, An American Dictionary of the English Language , known as Webster's Dictionary ,
6660-488: The Studebaker Wagonaire has been noted as possibly the first "crossover" vehicle. Production began in the autumn of 1962 for the 1963 model year with all Lark station wagons including the sliding roof. However, early buyers soon found that their new wagons' roofs leaked water near the front of the sliding section. This problem was addressed – with limited success – by the factory. It took until mid-November to develop
6771-528: The U.S. Several verbs ending in -ize are of U.S. origin; for example, fetishize, prioritize, burglarize, accessorize, weatherize , etc.; and so are some back-formations (locate, fine-tune, curate, donate, emote, upholster and enthuse). Among syntactic constructions that arose are outside of, headed for, meet up with, back of, etc. Americanisms formed by alteration of some existing words include notably pesky, phony, rambunctious, buddy, sundae , skeeter, sashay and kitty-corner. Adjectives that arose in
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#17328594471196882-563: The U.S. are for instance foothill , landslide (in all senses), backdrop , teenager , brainstorm , bandwagon , hitchhike , smalltime, and a huge number of others. Other compound words have been founded based on industrialization and the wave of the automobile: five-passenger car, four-door sedan, two-door sedan, and station-wagon (called an estate car in British English). Some are euphemistic ( human resources , affirmative action , correctional facility ). Many compound nouns have
6993-662: The U.S. are, for example, lengthy, bossy, cute and cutesy, punk (in all senses), sticky (of the weather), through (as in "finished"), and many colloquial forms such as peppy or wacky . A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English or Early Modern English and that have been in everyday use in the United States have since disappeared in most varieties of British English; some of these have cognates in Lowland Scots . Terms such as fall ("autumn"), faucet ("tap"), diaper ("nappy"; itself unused in
7104-530: The U.S. while changing in Britain. Science, urbanization, and democracy have been important factors in bringing about changes in the written and spoken language of the United States. From the world of business and finance came new terms ( merger , downsize , bottom line ), from sports and gambling terminology came, specific jargon aside, common everyday American idioms, including many idioms related to baseball . The names of some American inventions remained largely confined to North America ( elevator [except in
7215-427: The U.S.), candy ("sweets"), skillet , eyeglasses , and obligate are often regarded as Americanisms. Fall for example came to denote the season in 16th century England, a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year." Gotten ( past participle of get ) is often considered to be largely an Americanism. Other words and meanings were brought back to Britain from
7326-592: The U.S., especially in the second half of the 20th century; these include hire ("to employ"), I guess (famously criticized by H. W. Fowler ), baggage , hit (a place), and the adverbs overly and presently ("currently"). Some of these, for example, monkey wrench and wastebasket , originated in 19th century Britain. The adjectives mad meaning "angry", smart meaning "intelligent", and sick meaning "ill" are also more frequent in American (and Irish) English than British English. Linguist Bert Vaux created
7437-474: The United States and the United Kingdom suggest that, while spoken American English deviated away from period British English in many ways, it is conservative in a few other ways, preserving certain features 21st-century British English has since lost. Full rhoticity (or "R-fulness") is typical of American accents, pronouncing the phoneme /r/ (corresponding to the letter ⟨r⟩ ) in all environments, including in syllable-final position or before
7548-594: The United States. The Ford Taurus wagon was discontinued in 2005, and the Ford Focus station wagon was discontinued in 2008. An exception to this trend was the Subaru Legacy and Subaru Outback station wagon models, which continue to be produced at the Subaru of Indiana plant . With other brands, the niche previously occupied by station wagons is now primarily filled with a similar style of Crossover SUV , which generally has
7659-596: The West and Midwest, and New York Latino English , spoken in the New York metropolitan area . Additionally, ethnic varieties such as Yeshiva English and " Yinglish " are spoken by some American Orthodox Jews , Cajun Vernacular English by some Cajuns in southern Louisiana , and Pennsylvania Dutch English by some Pennsylvania Dutch people. American Indian Englishes have been documented among diverse Indian tribes. The island state of Hawaii , though primarily English-speaking,
7770-547: The accents spoken in the " Midland ": a vast band of the country that constitutes an intermediate dialect region between the traditional North and South. Western U.S. accents mostly fall under the General American spectrum. Below, ten major American English accents are defined by their particular combinations of certain vowel sounds: In 2010, William Labov noted that Great Lakes, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and West Coast accents have undergone "vigorous new sound changes" since
7881-505: The aeronautical sense ], gasoline ) as did certain automotive terms ( truck , trunk ). New foreign loanwords came with 19th and early 20th century European immigration to the U.S.; notably, from Yiddish ( chutzpah , schmooze, bupkis, glitch ) and German ( hamburger , wiener ). A large number of English colloquialisms from various periods are American in origin; some have lost their American flavor (from OK and cool to nerd and 24/7 ), while others have not ( have
7992-481: The body pillars of the compact-size Nash Rambler station wagons that went up the roof's drip rail and around on the spit liftgate. The larger-sized Cross Country station wagon was available with bodyside wood trim that went unbroken up the C and D pillars to a thin strip on the roof above the side windows. Ford marketing began using “Country Squire” with the 1950 model year for the station wagon body design. From 1950 through 1991, their simulated wood trim differentiated
8103-549: The body style through the 1964 model year. The popularity of the station wagon—particularly full-size station wagons—in the United States was blunted by increased fuel prices caused by the 1973 oil crisis . Then, in 1983, the market for station wagons was further eroded by the Chrysler minivans , based on the K platform . While the K platform was also used for station wagon models (such as the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries ),
8214-459: The commercial nature of the vehicles. Early station wagons were fixed-roof vehicles, but lacked the sides and glass that would generally enclose the passenger compartment, and included rudimentary benches for seating passengers. Instead of framed glass, side curtains of canvas could be unrolled. More rigid curtains could be snapped to protect passengers from outside elements. The roofs of "woodie" wagons were usually made of stretched canvas treated with
8325-486: The company's model range. The first all-steel station wagon body style was the 1935 Chevrolet Suburban . As part of the overall trend in the automotive industry, wooden bodies were superseded by all-steel bodies due to their strength, cost, and durability. The commercial vehicle status was also reflected on those vehicles' registrations For example, there were special "Suburban" license plates in Pennsylvania used well into
8436-509: The cost, noise, and maintenance associated with wood bodies. The first mass-produced steel-bodied station wagon was the 1946 Willys Station Wagon , based on the chassis of the Jeep CJ-2A . In 1947, Crosley introduced a steel-bodied station wagon version of the Crosley CC Four . The first postwar station wagon to be based on a passenger car chassis was the 1949 Plymouth Suburban , which used
8547-406: The country), though the vowel-consonant cluster found in "bird", "work", "hurt", "learn", etc. usually retains its r pronunciation, even in these non-rhotic American accents. Non-rhoticity among such speakers is presumed to have arisen from their upper classes' close historical contact with England, imitating London's r -dropping, a feature that has continued to gain prestige throughout England from
8658-407: The decade, electric power was applied to the tailgate window so it could be operated from the driver's seat and by a key-activated switch in the tailgate. By the early 1970s, this arrangement was available on full-size, intermediate, and compact wagons. The lowered bottom hinged tailgate extended the cargo area floor and could serve as a picnic table for "tailgating." A station wagon design featuring
8769-614: The diverse regional dialects of British English) became common after the mid-18th century, while at the same time speakers' identification with this new variety increased. Since the 18th century, American English has developed into some new varieties, including regional dialects that retain minor influences from waves of immigrant speakers of diverse languages, primarily European languages. Some racial and regional variation in American English reflects these groups' geographic settlement, their de jure or de facto segregation, and patterns in their resettlement. This can be seen, for example, in
8880-425: The door/gate system for its full-size wagons. A simplified, one-piece lift-gate on smaller wagons. The AMC Hornet Sportabout was introduced for the 1972 model year and featured a "liftgate-style hatchback instead of swing-out or fold-down tailgate ... would set a precedent for liftgates in modern SUVs." The 1978-1996 GM's mid-size station wagons also returned to the upward-lifting rear window/gate as had been used in
8991-742: The double quotation mark ("like this") over the single ('as here'). Vocabulary differences vary by region. For example, autumn is used more commonly in the United Kingdom, whereas fall is more common in American English. Some other differences include: aerial (United Kingdom) vs. antenna, biscuit (United Kingdom) vs. cookie/cracker, car park (United Kingdom) vs. parking lot, caravan (United Kingdom) vs. trailer, city centre (United Kingdom) vs. downtown, flat (United Kingdom) vs. apartment, fringe (United Kingdom) vs. bangs, and holiday (United Kingdom) vs. vacation. AmE sometimes favors words that are morphologically more complex, whereas BrE uses clipped forms, such as AmE transportation and BrE transport or where
9102-453: The exterior features of the Commander with the interior trim grade of the sporty Daytona. There were also fixed-top Wagonaires available in 1966; while a total of 618 of all types of Wagonaires were built for the 1966 model year. Over the four-year production, a total of about 12,000 sliding-roof Wagonaires were sold. The 1963 and 1964 Daytona versions of the Wagonaire could be equipped with
9213-510: The following two centuries) when this ethnic group eventually made up one-seventh of the colonial population. Scotch-Irish settlers spread from Delaware and Pennsylvania throughout the larger Mid-Atlantic region, the inland regions of both the South and North, and throughout the West: American dialect areas that were all uninfluenced by upper-class non-rhoticity and that consequently have remained consistently rhotic. While non-rhoticity spread on
9324-504: The gap. When opened as a swinging door, this part of the bumper moved away, allowing the depression in the bumper to provide a "step" to ease entry; when the gate was opened by being lowered or raised to a closed position, the chrome section remained in place making the bumper "whole". Full-size General Motors, from 1971 through 1976 station wagons ( Chevrolet Kingswood, Townsman, Brookwood, Bel Air, Impala, and Caprice Estates ; Pontiac Safari and Grand Safari ; Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser , and
9435-458: The highest production levels in the United States from the 1950s through the 1970s as a result of the American Mid-20th century baby boom . The late 1950s through the mid-1960s was also the period of greatest variation in body styles, with models available without a B-pillar (called hardtop or pillarless models) or with a B-pillar, both in 2-door and 4-door variants. The 1956 Rambler
9546-939: The hospital , BrE to hospital ; contrast, however, AmE actress Elizabeth Taylor , BrE the actress Elizabeth Taylor ). Often, these differences are a matter of relative preferences rather than absolute rules; and most are not stable since the two varieties are constantly influencing each other, and American English is not a standardized set of dialects. Differences in orthography are also minor. The main differences are that American English usually uses spellings such as flavor for British flavour , fiber for fibre , defense for defence , analyze for analyse , license for licence , catalog for catalogue and traveling for travelling . Noah Webster popularized such spellings in America, but he did not invent most of them. Rather, "he chose already existing options on such grounds as simplicity, analogy or etymology." Other differences are due to
9657-656: The influence of 18th-century Protestant Ulster Scots immigrants (known in the U.S. as the Scotch-Irish ) in Appalachia developing Appalachian English and the 20th-century Great Migration bringing African-American Vernacular English to the Great Lakes urban centers. Any phonologically unmarked North American accent falls under an umbrella known as General American. This section mostly refers to such General American features. Studies on historical usage of English in both
9768-479: The last to carry Studebaker's engines. Beginning with the 1965 models, General Motors supplied engines based on the Chevrolet six-cylinder and V8 designs. The 1965 models were available only with the sliding roof. The fixed-roof option made a return for Studebaker's final model year in 1966, but the third seat was no longer offered. In addition, the 1966 Wagonaire finally was made a model in its own right, blending
9879-438: The late 18th century onwards, but which has conversely lost prestige in the U.S. since at least the early 20th century. Non-rhoticity makes a word like car sound like cah or source like sauce . New York City and Southern accents are the most prominent regional accents of the country, as well as the most stigmatized and socially disfavored. Southern speech, strongest in southern Appalachia and certain areas of Texas,
9990-427: The mid-nineteenth century onwards, so they "are now more different from each other than they were 50 or 100 years ago", while other accents, like of New York City and Boston, have remained stable in that same time-frame. However, a General American sound system also has some debated degree of influence nationwide, for example, gradually beginning to oust the regional accent in urban areas of the South and at least some in
10101-617: The most formal contexts, and regional accents with the most General American native features include North Midland, Western New England, and Western accents. Although no longer region-specific, African-American Vernacular English , which remains the native variety of most working- and middle-class African Americans , has a close relationship to Southern dialects and has greatly influenced everyday speech of many Americans, including hip hop culture . Hispanic and Latino Americans have also developed native-speaker varieties of English. The best-studied Latino Englishes are Chicano English , spoken in
10212-432: The optional front bucket seats). The car could seat eight when equipped with a rear-facing third-row seat, which was available as an option through 1965. When the third seat was ordered, the cars were fitted with special "Captive-Air" (puncture-resistant) tires, as the additional seat took up the space required for a spare tire and wheel. The drop-down tailgate was available with an attached step to ease egress. The design of
10323-402: The past forms of a few verbs (for example, AmE/BrE: learned / learnt , burned / burnt , snuck/sneaked , dove/dived ) although the purportedly "British" forms can occasionally be seen in American English writing as well; different prepositions and adverbs in certain contexts (for example, AmE in school, BrE at school ); and whether or not a definite article is used, in very few cases (AmE to
10434-481: The production of the all-wood bodies was very time-consuming. Eventually, car manufacturers began producing their station wagon designs. In 1922, the Essex Closed Coach became the first mass-produced car to use a steel body (in this case, a fully enclosed sedan body style). In 1923, Star (a division of Durant Motors ) became the first car company to offer a station wagon assembled on its production line (using
10545-413: The rear side doors and a folding second-row seat. They could accommodate 4-by-8-foot (1.2 m × 2.4 m) sheets of plywood or other panels with the rear seats folded. The clamshell design required no increased footprint or operational area to open the cargo area. This enabled access even if the station wagon's rear was parked against a wall. The GM design, as used in a Pontiac Grand Safari, with
10656-425: The rear window can swing up independently. A variety of other designs have been employed in the past. The split gate features an upward-swinging window and a downward-swinging tailgate, both manually operated. This configuration was typical in the 1920s through the 1940s, and remained common on many models into the 1960s. In the early 1950s, tailgates with hand-cranked roll-down rear windows began to appear. Later in
10767-478: The same transmission and engine options, and the same comfort and convenience options." Station wagons have evolved from their early use as specialized vehicles to carry people and luggage to and from a train station . The demand for station wagon body style has faded since the 2010s in favor of the crossover or SUV designs. Reflecting the original purpose of transporting people and luggage between country estates and train stations , The station wagon body style
10878-731: The sliding-roof wagons, but it was technically a "delete option" and not a separate model. Studebaker built a total of 11,915 fixed and sliding roof station wagons for the initial year. When Studebaker closed its South Bend, Indiana , assembly plant and continued production at its Hamilton, Ontario , Canada, plant, the company discontinued the Avanti and Hawk , but continued to build the Lark-based sedans and Wagonaire station wagons. A total of 1,563 Daytona Wagonaires were built in 1964. The 1964 models, which were built only in Canada after December 1963, were
10989-502: The station wagon body style in the United States. These early models with exposed wooden bodies became known as woodies . By the 1920s the status of the station wagon description changed to consider them as vehicles for passengers. In Germany, the term "Kombi" is used, which is short for Kombinationskraftwagen ("combination motor vehicle"). "Kombi" is also the term used in Poland . In Russia and some Post-Soviet countries, this type of car
11100-487: The steel-bodied wagons as a visual link to the previous wooden style. By the late 1950s, the wooden trim was replaced by "simulated wood" in the form of stick-on vinyl coverings. The woodgrain feature is not that the body is wood—or that it could ever be wood—rather, it is "totally honest in its artificiality." The design element was also used on cars that were not station wagons, including sedans, pickup trucks, and convertibles. Unique simulated wood designs included trim on
11211-407: The system, engineered by Donald N. Frey as the "Three-Way Magic Doorgate". Similar configurations became the standard feature on full-size and intermediate station wagons from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and American Motors Corporation (AMC). Some full-size GM wagons added a notch in the rear bumper that acted as a step plate; a small portion of the bumper was attached to the tailgate to fill
11322-570: The traditional standard accent of (southern) England, Received Pronunciation (RP), has evolved a trap–bath split . Moreover, American accents preserve /h/ at the start of syllables, while perhaps a majority of the regional dialects of England participate in /h/ dropping , particularly in informal contexts. However, General American is also innovative in a number of its own ways: The process of coining new lexical items started as soon as English-speaking British-American colonists began borrowing names for unfamiliar flora, fauna, and topography from
11433-590: The traditional station wagon body style, was a blow. After low sales, the Chevrolet Caprice and the Buick Roadmaster , the last American full-size wagons, were discontinued in 1996. Smaller station wagons were marketed as lower-priced alternatives to SUVs and minivans. Domestic wagons also remained in the Ford, Mercury, and Saturn lines. However, after 2004, these compact station wagons also began to be phased out in
11544-417: The verb-and-preposition combination: stopover, lineup, tryout, spin-off, shootout , holdup, hideout, comeback, makeover , and many more. Some prepositional and phrasal verbs are in fact of American origin ( win out, hold up, back up/off/down/out, face up to and many others). Noun endings such as -ee (retiree), -ery (bakery), -ster (gangster) and -cian (beautician) are also particularly productive in
11655-772: The word corn , used in England to refer to wheat (or any cereal), came to denote the maize plant, the most important crop in the U.S. Most Mexican Spanish contributions came after the War of 1812 , with the opening of the West, like ranch (now a common house style ). Due to Mexican culinary influence, many Spanish words are incorporated in general use when talking about certain popular dishes: cilantro (instead of coriander), queso, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tostadas, fajitas, burritos, and guacamole. These words usually lack an English equivalent and are found in popular restaurants. New forms of dwelling created new terms ( lot , waterfront) and types of homes like log cabin , adobe in
11766-609: The world. Any American or Canadian accent perceived as lacking noticeably local, ethnic, or cultural markers is known in linguistics as General American ; it covers a fairly uniform accent continuum native to certain regions of the U.S. but especially associated with broadcast mass media and highly educated speech. However, historical and present linguistic evidence does not support the notion of there being one single mainstream American accent . The sound of American English continues to evolve, with some local accents disappearing, but several larger regional accents having emerged in
11877-407: Was an all-new design, and the 4-door "Cross Country" featured the industry's first station wagon hardtop. However, the pillarless models could be expensive to produce, added wind noise, and created structural issues with body torque. GM eliminated the pillarless wagon from its lineup in 1959, while AMC and Ford exited the field beginning with their 1960 and 1961 vehicles, leaving Chrysler and Dodge with
11988-520: Was followed by the Audi RS4 and Audi RS6 . The 2006 through 2008 Dodge Magnum SRT-8 model brought power and performance with station wagon features. The cars featured a 6.1 L Hemi V8 engine rated at 425 hp (317 kW; 431 PS). The Dodge Magnum SRT-8 shared its platform with the Chrysler 300C Touring SRT-8, which was only sold in Europe. Other German manufacturers have produced station wagon versions of their performance models, such as
12099-566: Was inspired by Stevens' 1959 Scimitar concept car built in Stuttgart , West Germany, by Ruetter for the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation . There were three full-sized Chrysler -based vehicles built for display at the 1959 Geneva Motor Show to promote use of aluminum in building cars. One of these was a hardtop (with no " B-pillar ") station wagon with a sliding roof panel. In 1962, Stevens developed prototypes for
12210-435: Was the invention of industrial designer Brooks Stevens , who was charged by the automaker's president, Sherwood Egbert , to expand the company's limited model range without spending vast amounts of capital on retooling. Stevens was also the designer of the similarly named Jeep Wagoneer , a truck-based sport utility vehicle (SUV) that was also introduced along the Wagonaire for the 1963 model year. The Wagonaire roof design
12321-469: Was written by Noah Webster in 1828, codifying several of these spellings. Differences in grammar are relatively minor, and do not normally affect mutual intelligibility; these include: typically a lack of differentiation between adjectives and adverbs, employing the equivalent adjectives as adverbs he ran quick / he ran quickly ; different use of some auxiliary verbs ; formal (rather than notional) agreement with collective nouns ; different preferences for
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