Skip to main content

Phaeton

Remember that 1995 Sense and Sensibility scene in which dashing Mr. Willoughby recklessly drives a phaeton around town with Marianne Dashwood? The novel was published in 1811.  Fast drag your imagination to 2011 and the two lovers are today's rich hunk and a happy-go-lucky, attractive chick speeding on say, a Lamborghini Reventon.

In Pride and Prejudice, obsequious Mr Collin declares, "she (Lady Catherine de Bough) is perfectly amiable, and often condescends to drive by my humble abode in her little phaeton and ponies."

pha·e·ton  (f-tn)
n.1. A light, four-wheeled open carriage, usually drawn by a pair of horses.
   2. A touring car. ( The Free Dictionary)



Two ladies in a high perch phaeton. The owners of these sporty, open-air and lightning fast carriages actually drove the vehicle, as there was no place for a coachman. Phaeton seats were built high off the ground, the sides of the vehicle were open to the elements (a top could be pulled over as a screen from sun or rain), and the back wheels were larger than the front wheels.  However, these light, airy, well-sprung vehicles were prone to tipping over when turning around corners too fast, thus a driver had to be skilled in order to move at high speed. The phaeton, therefore, was extremely popular with the rakish set. (Vic, Jane Austen's World)
This post is linked with ABC Wednesday.

Comments

  1. Great post and a good blog to get my brain in gear this morning.
    This is a new word for me. Wonder how I can fit it into conversation today?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those things looks slightly ridiculous and I'm not surprised they were prone to simply tipping over (the name seems to indicate that the inventors knew it as well).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Quaint, but must have been very popular in that era!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. those wild and crazy kids! fun

    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

    ReplyDelete
  5. A perfectly aPt post for today! I really enjoyed reading about this kind of carriage and do remember them careening about! Love your analogy, too!

    Leslie
    abcw team

    ReplyDelete
  6. this was such a great post - loved it

    ReplyDelete
  7. The sports carriage of the past. Nice.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fantastic post for P day. I love the illustration and what a great P word.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks definitively better than driving in my car !

    ReplyDelete
  10. And I thought a carriage was just a carriage! Neat post.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hands down ako sa coices of words mo sis, greAT post.

    Join ka nostalgia uli.. mwah!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!

Tacloban . It's where I spent two months of great adventure with college buddies at about the same age as the young adult artists in this video  We Are The World for Philippines ( Cover by Filipino Artsts ) This is the church where I served as piano accompanist for the 1990 summer student choir, and some of the services. According to reports it was filled with dead bodies when this shot was taken. Photo Courtesy: AUP Network on FB On Saturday, November 24th, Central World management (the former WTC Bangkok) lent space for a Haiyan fundraiser without charge. I'd like to commemorate the highlights:   One Voice: Help Haiyan Victims was a serendipity. Organizing events is something I had to pay money to study in grad school. But it was live learning right there that night and observing the process was free. Skywatch : Mission Tacloban The Bangkok Charity Orchestra   reflected tranquility in their music. Poor typhoon victims would benef

Dyslexics and Developmental Pediatricians

Let me begin with an observation on the latter.  Developmental pediatricians in the Philippines are a rare breed. Or that's what I noticed. From society and organization websites, to forums, to word-of-mouth, to my own experience, they seem to be outnumbered by people who need their expertise. A parent of a child with developmental delays has to wait weeks or months to see one developmental pediatrician. Only thirty are listed on the Philippine Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Twenty-five in one Filipino autism blog, and that is not purely DevPeds. A child psychologist, child psychiatrist, and pediatric neurologist are mixed in the list, although they certainly are a big help too. At my son's speech therapy and psychology center I hear the same account from other parents - securing a time slot with a DevPed is hard. They are all fully booked throughout what could turn into a year. You may be lucky if someone withdraws but that rarely happens. I'm playing

Honor, Awards and a Game

Tuesday Couch Potatoes: Made of Honor Awards and a Game/Meme follow. Please scroll down a bit. My pick for this week's TCP theme (wedding movie) is Made of Honor. I like the humor in it. We've all been to several weddings but how many of us can say I've been to one in which the maid of honor was a he? The scene which particularly cracked me up is when the priest mistook the maid of honor for a gay man =) If you're familiar with some of my likes, you'd know why I also love the Scotland location of the wedding. For more of the synopsis click here ; and here's the trailer: Head over to Just About Anything for more wedding movies. ************ My super duper bloggy friend Thom of Thom's Place for Well Whatever and fellow Mom Tetcha of Pensive Thoughts awarded me this Beautiful Blogger award. I have to list seven things about me so here they are: 1. I love wearing jeans more than skirts. 2. One of my favorite colors is purple. 3. I don't mind spending su