Steve and Virginia Matuchek's wedding presents include a soft, thick, spacious Persian flying carpet which has:
a 300 dragonpower spell;
a rear space for luggage;
polymerized sea foam cushions;
a force screen;
a convertible top.
It is so comfortable that they fly overnight instead of staying in a broomotel.
This gives us an indirect link with ERB (Edgar Rice Burroughs). ERB's sources for John Carter of Mars are thought to include Edwin Arnold's Lieutenant Gulliver (in some editions, Gullivar) Jones who, dissatisfied with life on Earth, wishes that he were on Mars when he happens to be standing on a flying carpet. Carter's means of travel to Mars is also supernatural.
Read about the Matucheks while remembering Jones and Carter.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Hmmm, a "broomotel" is a play on "motel." So, did "motel" come from "motor hotel"?
And that souped up Persian flying carpet certainly seems tempting!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Yes, I think that "motel" is "motor hotel."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I had never wondered about the origins of "motel," as a word, till I read this blog piece of yours.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think that I have also seen a "boatel."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And that I have never seen before!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I am fairly sure that it was a one-off.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Iow, a neologism which never caught on and spread, to become "fixed" in the language.
Ad astra! Sean
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