charabanc n : a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport; "he always rode the bus to work" [syn: bus, autobus, coach, double-decker, jitney, motorbus, motorcoach, omnibus]

English

Etymology

From char-à-bancs, a carriage with benches

Noun

1. A horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides, and often, no roof.

   The cumbersome though finely painted charabanc of the late James style is pulled swaying along by a frisky pony of a plot farcical and romantic. — John Updike, "Late Works", The New Yorker, Aug 7 & 14, 2006, p.70.

References

• World Wide Words

A charabanc (pronounced sha-ra-bang) [also spelt "char-à-banc"] is a type of horse-drawn vehicle or motor coach, usually open-topped, common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. It was especially popular for sight-seeing or "works outings" to the country or the seaside, organised by businesses once a year. The name derives from the French char à bancs ("carriage with wooden benches"), the vehicle having originated in France in the early 19th century.

Although the vehicle has not been common on the roads for several decades, a few signs survive from the charabancs' era. A notable example at Wookey Hole in Somerset warns that the road to the neighbouring village of Easton is unsuitable for charabancs.

The original charabanc, in France, was a long, light, four-wheeled, wagonette-like carriage, usually open or curtained only at the sides, and often with no roof. It had several rows of benched seats extending across its width and facing forward. Pulled by up to six horses, it was used by private owners to convey guests on excursions. It was soon adopted in Britain, where two horses were used. It was employed to carry large groups of people as a public conveyance or for outings.

Cultural references

The charabanc is mentioned in Ian Anderson's song, "Wond'ring Again" from the Jethro Tull compilation Living in the Past: "Incestuous ancestry's charabanc ride, ...and those with no sandwiches please get off the bus". The Decemberists' song "The Legionnaire's Lament" from the album Castaways and Cutouts invokes the French origin of this vehicle and its use for sight-seeing, as recalled wistfully by a soldier far from home: "On the old left bank/ my baby in a charabanc/ riding up the width and length/ of the Champs Elysees." It is also mentioned in the Stranglers song "Peaches": "Oh shit! There goes the charabanc. Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole summer. Well what a bummer."

The charabanc tour is also the (admittedly vague — see The Beatles Anthology, episode 6) premise of The Beatles' 1967 television film Magical Mystery Tour, in which a group of characters (Spotlight 'oddities', 'lovelies' and The Beatles themselves) toured Southern England in a mix of music hall tunes/comedy, contemporary psychedelia, and musical set pieces by the Fab Four.

The charabanc is also notably mentioned in Dylan Thomas's short story "A Story", also known as "The Outing". In this piece the young Thomas unintentionally finds himself on the annual men's charabanc outing to Porthcawl. Within the work the charabanc is referred to as a 'chara' by way of colloquial Welsh slang.

The book Magnolia Street, a 1932 novel by Louis Golding, notes that the family went off on their holiday in their char-à-bancs.

One chapter in the book Cider with Rosie (1959), by Laurie Lee, focuses on the annual Slad village outing. The villagers took a particularly bumpy ride in a convoy of charabancs to Weston-super-Mare, which was young Laurie's first visit to the seaside.

The Charabanc Theatre Company was co-founded in 1983 by Belfast native and playwright Marie Jones (b. 1955), who went on to write Stones in His Pockets, an Ireland-based play with a two-man cast that ran successfully locally and in London, and reasonably successfully on Broadway.

External links

• Image of a charabanc from the 1920s
• Photo of horse-drawn charabanc presented to Queen Victoria in the early 1840s. The official web site of the British Monarchy.
• Rockin' Down the Highway with Paul Grushkin: April 2007.
• Seabrook Coaching Stable Dispersal Auction: Roof-seat Break. The Carriage Association of America, Inc.
• What is a Charabanc? wiseGEEK: clear answers for common questions.

Sources