Wagon

A wagon is a heavy four wheeled vehicle pulled by an animal (person or horse or ). I say heavy because if it is light then it might be a carriage. And it has four wheels, for if it had only two it would be a cart. In old England the spelling was waggon. In even older days, way back, it was called a wain. That is why a person who repairs wagons is called a wainwright. Wagons are used to carry stuff of all kinds

Hmmm? When we look at an 18 or 22 wheeler, those big trucks hauling all kinds of freight on our highways, I guess they pull carts, since when disconnected from the tractor, they do not have front wheels. Maybe that is why they are referred to as trailers. So the cart evolved to the wagon which devolved to the trailer. Got it. Kids have little wagons as toys and pull each other around. Mine was red. What colour was yours?

To circle the wagons means to huddle together for protection. The idea comes from wagon trains, many wagons travelling together, across North America to the promise of the west. They would circle to better defend themselves when attacked by Indians. Those were covered wagons, big and heavy and containing all the owner’s worldly possessions and with a canvas cover draped over high hoops like a tent

I can get on the wagon in a figurative sense, as in stopping a habit, like drinking alcohol. If I then start to drink again I will have fallen off the wagon. The idea is transferrable to many things that one could call a habit that I don’t want. A paddy wagon is a police van that is used to pick up drunk and rowdy types to take them to jail from the bars downtown. A wagon wheel is a round biscuit covered in chocolate. Yum

In the transition to automobiles a wagon with a steam engine was invented. The left overs of that idea is the modern station wagon. Overall, a wagon is a helpful device used to carry big and heavy loads. Getting on the wagon is usually intentional. Falling off, somehow, is not. Riding in a wagon can be fun, except when crossing the continent where it must have been tedious. But mostly, wagons are fun

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