the.com/merrygoround
a vortex of organ music and childhood joy that spins you exactly nowhere, beautifully.
means A rotating amusement-park ride with seats, often shaped like horses, that circles a central axis to music while going nowhere in particular.
from A transparent compound of English words: 'merry' (cheerful, glad — from Old English 'myrige,' pleasant) plus 'go round,' the plain description of what it does. The whole phrase dates to the 18th–19th centuries, when such spinning rides became fairground fixtures. In American English the same machine often answers to 'carousel,' a word that wandered in from French and Italian and may trace back to a horsemen's tournament game — but 'merry-go-round' wears its meaning on its sleeve, no translation required.
- old name
- called a carousel after mock cavalry training games
- direction split
- Americans spin counterclockwise, Brits spin clockwise
- war origin
- trained knights for spear-and-ring jousting drills
- music maker
- powered by a band organ reading punched paper books
carousel at coney island — 1908 horse carousel at luna park, brooklyn, still operating with original hand-carved horses