There are plenty of websites devoted to things that have been heard incorrectly. Song lyrics tend to get misheard the most (“Money for nothin’ and the chips [chicks] for free.” “’Scuse me while I kiss this guy [the sky]”), although commercial jingles are misheard quite a bit, too (“Nobody does it [doesn’t] like Sara Lee!”). And of course, the late, great Gilda Radner had a Saturday Night Live character, Emily Litella, whose entire shtick was her response when she heard things incorrectly.
The great debate if those carry-on bags with wheels are “rollerboards” or “rollaboards” is also based on mishearing the original (although with results that aren’t nearly as funny as, “Sweet dreams are made of cheese” or “Secret Asian man”).
As it turns out, the correct term – only in that it was there first – is “rollaboard.”
“‘Roll aboard’ was the original term,” linguist and lexicographer Ben Zimmer said in an interview. “Rollaboard” luggage was trademarked by Robert Plath in 1991. Plath was a pilot for Northwest Airlines, but he also had his own company, called Travelpro. Maybe you’ve heard of it? ;-). Anyway, according to Travelpro, Plath originally planned for the 2-wheeled bags to help his fellow crewmembers travel more easily. However when the public saw the flight crew with wheeled carry on bags, they wanted in.
Although he didn’t trademark “Rollaboard” until 1991, Zimmer said luggage appeared under the brand name “Roll-Aboard” as early as 1985.
Here’s a 1985 ad for U.S. Luggage Roll-Aboard Group luggage, which was seen in the now-defunct Daily Record, a newspaper published in Morristown New Jersey (M. Epstein’s department store is also long gone). Note that although the luggage was called “Rollaboard,” the bags themselves didn’t have wheels (but the set did have that sweet dollie. Any of my fellow Gen Xers, or even Boomers, remember doing that?).
Fast forward to October 1990 though, and the ad for Travelpro’s Rollaboard (or should I say Rollabaord?) in the Miami Herald show carry on bags with 2 wheels, so they could actually, you know, roll aboard. And by March of 1991, “Rollaboard” even had its own logo!
By early May of 1993, there was something new out there. Rollerboard Travelsystem Luggage.
“‘Rollerboard’ began appearing as a more generic term in the 1990s,” explained Zimmer. “It may have started out as a misinterpretation of ‘roll-aboard,’ but it also avoided the trademarked term, as this 2003 USA Today article suggests.”
Zimmer, always the linguist, also explained that “rollerboard” is a good example of an “eggcorn.” An eggcorn is the alteration of a phrase through the mishearing or reinterpretation of one or more of its elements, creating a new phrase having a different meaning from the original but which still makes sense and is plausible when used in the same context. (Thank-you, Wikipedia) Other examples of eggcorns are “wheel barrel” instead of “wheel barrow” and “Duck Tape” instead of “duct tape.” (I love that Duck Tape is a brand of duct tape).
Anyway, over the years both “Rollaboard” and “rollerboard” have been used. Most people use one or the other, and by this point, neither is right or wrong (unless you’re specifying TravelPro luggage, in which case it’s always “Rollaboard.”). However if it matters at all, “Rollaboard” technically came first.
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