A.Word.A.Day --Sunday driver

A.Word.A.Day

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Oct 17, 2019

This week’s theme
Words coined after days of the week

This week’s words
Friday face
Sunday punch
blue Monday
Sunday driver
girl Friday

“NOT A SUNDAY DRIVER.
This car being USED for BUSINESS
And not for pleasure.” (back story)

Photo: Weegee, 1942
Source: International Center of Photography

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Sunday driver

PRONUNCIATION:

(SUHN-day dry-vuhr)

MEANING:

noun: One who drives slowly, poorly, or overcautiously.

ETYMOLOGY:

What’s Sunday got to do with driving slowly, poorly, or overcautiously? The allusion here is to someone who is out for a leisurely Sunday drive taking the scenic route. Or one who drives poorly because they drive infrequently. Or they drive overcautiously in the manner of someone who comes out to drive only on Sunday when there’s little traffic. Earliest documented use: 1877.

USAGE:

“The film, which is based on a true story, chugs along like a Sunday driver taking the scenic route.”
Wendy Ide; The Mule review -- Crime in the Slow Lane; The Guardian (London, UK); Jan 27, 2019.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Don't be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value. -Arthur Miller, playwright and essayist (17 Oct 1915-2005)

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