Toonerville Trolley
English
Etymology
From the 1908–1955 cartoon featuring a trolley.
Proper noun
Toonerville Trolley (plural Toonerville Trolleys)
- (informal) A trolley, especially one in need of modernization.
- 1945, Hodgson, J. H., The Heavens Above and the Earth Beneath: A History of the Dominion Observatories, Geological Survey of Canada, page 66:
- Such a car was the feature of a comic strip of those days, "The Toonerville Trolley that Meets All the Trains", and the Farm cars were affectionately known as "The Toonerville Trolley".
- 1995, Earley, Charity Adams, One Woman's Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC, Texas A&M University Press, page 118:
- [T]he two modes of transportation available were taxicab and the “Toonerville Trolley.” ... The name “Toonerville Trolley” was taken from a popular cartoon of the time because we thought the rock and roll of the streetcar and the uphill and downhill route seemed to be lifted from the cartoon.
- 2002, Shaffer, Dale E., Salem, OH: A Quaker City History, Arcadia Publishing, page 93:
- The trolley on that route was referred to as “Old Dolly” and the “Toonerville Trolley” (from the comic strip)
- 2007, “Vermont: Toonerville Trail”, in Rail-Trails: New England, Wilderness Press, page 205:
- The trolley, affectionately nicknamed the “Toonerville Trolley” after a popular cartoon strip that ran until 1947.
- 2007, Davis, John H., What Do White Americans Want to Know about Black Americans But Are Afraid to Ask, Xlibris, page 86:
- During the period, the area became known as the Toonerville after a local factory. The Pacific electric red car tracks ran through the area, and the local trolley became known as the Toonerville trolley.
- 2008, Hamm, Jr., Thomas L., A Lifetime Spent Doing What I Loved to Do!: An Autobiography, iUniverse, page 15:
- To travel that mile there was an honest-to-god Toonerville Trolley. A Toonerville Trolley was a very small, one railroad car, featured in a comic strip popular at the time, with one cartoon-type fellow who did all the driving; ....
- 2009, Grider, Dorothy, “Just Like Paradise”, in Geri Delevich, Marilyn Cichowski, editors, Embraceable You: We're All Part of the Story - New Hope, Pennsylvania, iUniverse, page ??:
- I always loved the first leg of that trip that began with a walk over the bridge that led to Lambertville Station and then a hop on board the little one-coach train called the Toonerville Trolley.
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- A noticeably inexpensive trip.
- 1969, American Flyers Airline, advertisement, Life, volume 67, number 175, page 124:
- Our airline must be something out of the Toonerville Trolley.
- 1983, King, Stephen, Pet Sematary, Doubleday:
- At that point Louis had gone into the dispensary and taken a Tuinal—what his first med school roommate had called Tooners. “Hop up on the Toonerville Trolley, Louis,” he'd say, “and I'll put on some Credence.”
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