Simple word: "Dashboard"

       I was wondering about the word "dashboard."

       You may not be surprised to know it comes from the days before "horseless carriages" (later  shortened to "car" when the "horseless" was presumed and "carriage" was too long a word for this new fast-moving motorized vehicle of maybe 30 miles an hour).

       From 1846, says etymonline, when carriages were still "horsefull" the dashboard was on the front of the carriage, not where the passengers were,  a "board or leather apron" "to stop mud from being splashed ('dashed') into the vehicle by the horse's hooves."

       Remember the wonderful Oscar Hammerstein lyrics from Oklahoma's "Surrey with the Fringe on Top":

              The wheels are yeller, the upholstery's brown,
              The dashboard's genuine leather
              With isinglass curtains you can roll right down
              In case there's a change in the weather.