Car-hop

0 Hi, LanguageLover, 02br
00A carhop is the guy who serves customers at a drive-in restaurant. 0-

0 Thank you, Miche - I've often wondered! (but never enough to look it up!) 0-

0 Thanks Miche. I couldn't think of that too! 0-

0 The term "car hop" originated at drive-in restaurants when young teen-age boys would jump "hop" on the running board of a car pulling in and take their orders. Later, girls became dominant but were still called car hops, even though some places used skates. 02br
02br
00It started in Texas, then California in a big way, then the southeast and on to the northeast. 02br

0 Does anybody know of the relation of "car-hop" to "bell-hop"? 0-

0 Maybe a bellhop "hops" to it when he hears the bell ring. 0-

And?

What about the car-hop part? Is there a suggestion that the car-hop hops to it when he sees a car drive up? In other words, is it more likely that the term"car-hop" comes from "bell-hop" (hopping "to it") or from "hopping on the running board"?

CJ

I'm still looking for a tie-in to 'carhop', but this is interesting:

'Bellhop is a 1910 shortening of bellhopper (1900), from the notion of hopping to action at the ring of the bell. Bell-boy was originally (1851) a ship's bell-ringer, later (1861) a hotel page.'

So 'bellhop' and 'bellboy' have nothing in common except the bell.

Here's the rest of our Guest's information:

'The word "carhop" dates back to the early 1920s when servers at Pig Stand in Fort Worth, Tex., would "hop" onto an automobile’s running board to deliver food. Running boards have long since disappeared but America's persistent preoccupation with cars and quick eats have given the drive-in restaurant enduring appeal, according to Sandra Mizumot

Oh, yummy. Barbecued beef sandwiches and rootbeer at the A&W!!!
You certainly stirred up some very old memories there, Mr. M!

(But for me it was Michigan.)