What's the difference between a flea market and a car boot?
Stalls at flea markets are run by retailers as well as by ordinary people selling their own private possessions. Car boot sales are a similar form of market where, usually, private individuals come together to sell their own possessions, often from the boot of their car.
While Americans hold garage sales and the French have flea markets, the English have a distinctly British activity in which to sell one's personal second hand goods.
The flea markets, second hand markets and car boot sales are very popular in France especially in the summer and before Christmas, in fact, that's an understatement – it seems to be the national pastime to spend weekends visiting the different types of second hand markets.
The term "car boot sale" refers to the selling of items from a car's boot. Although a small proportion of sellers are professional traders selling goods, or indeed browsing for items to buy, most of the goods on sale are used personal possessions.
The trunk (North American English) or boot (British English) of a car is the vehicle's main storage or cargo compartment, often a hatch at the rear of the vehicle.
The part of the car used to hold items you won't need access to without stopping the vehicle is called the boot in the UK, and the trunk in the US. These words may be different, but their meaning is incredibly similar when taken back to their origins.
In America its called a Flea Market. A car boot is something thats put on the wheel of a car to prevent it from moving until the owner can pay the fines.
The word "boot"(which is commonly used by the English), goes back to 18th century horse-drawn carriages where the coachman sat on a chest, which was used to store, among other things, his boots. This storage space came to be termed as the "boot locker", which soon became the "boot".
In the case of saloons or sedans and coupés, the boot/trunk lid is not counted as a door by definition because it is for a separate storage compartment - these cars are marketed as 'two-door' or 'four-door'.
What to buy and sell. Bric-a-brac, clothes, books and toys are all car boot sale staples. However, it can be surprising what sells well, so even if you think an item is not worth anything, it may be worth bringing it along. You should avoid spending all of your profits on buying more items from other sellers.
It is an offence to hold a temporary market, or permit your land to be used for a temporary market, without giving notice. If you do so, you can be fined up to £2,500.
Fire Arms, Knives, Tobacco, Alcohol and Controlled Substances, Unless fully licensed to do so, with permission from National Car Boot sale organisers, it is strictly forbidden to sell any of the above items and any items that may fall into the above categories.
The front window of the car is named the windscreen in the UK, while in the USA, they've tweaked it just slightly to read windshield. Both 'screen' and 'shield' suggest protection and so are still quite similar in their meaning, linguistically.
The word 'saloon' comes from the French 'salon', which means a large room. The term 'saloon car' was originally used to refer to the luxury carriages on a train. It was adopted by British carmakers in the early part of the 20th Century to describe cars with an enclosed passenger compartment.
'Glovebox' maybe creeping in, but most Brits would call the small stowage compartment in the passenger side of the dashboard a glove compartment. In my house, this evening, there was a 5 to 1 majority in favour of glove compartment.
International terminology. In American English, Latin American Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese, the term sedan is used (accented as sedán in Spanish). In British English, a car of this configuration is called a saloon (/səˈlun/).
To boot is ideal for adding something extra to a statement, as it essentially means "on top of that." You might describe your best friend by saying, "She's so funny, and incredibly loyal to boot." The term comes from the Old English to bote, which was once used as part of a legal term in English law, meaning something ...
It goes back to the military training, “Boot Camp”. The military doesn't call it that but that's what it is. By referring to a new person as a “Boot”, it is a fraternal nickname given to that person to recognize that they are still in the “Boot Camp” portion of their police training.
Frank Marugg (1887–1973) was an inventor who developed the “Denver Boot,” a device that immobilizes a vehicle for ticketing purposes. Despite a lifetime of pursuits in various other industries, the boot remains the most notable achievement of Marugg's professional career.
