Etymologists trying to trace the history of a slang term face long odds. If a term evolved in speech before it ever appeared in print, there may be a dearth of documentation. Sometimes there are plenty of theories, but no supporting evidence. In the case of the term jalopy, meaning "a dilapidated old vehicle," we know little more about the word than the year of its print debut, 1928. But since we've got apocryphal explanations a-plenty, let's look at a few.

One theory has it that jalopy comes from an Italian-American pronunciation of "jelly apple." Supposedly, "jell 'oppy" became associated with the broken-down old-carts from which Italian immigrants sold the apples during the early 20th century, and the word's meaning was extended to any old vehicle. Another theory claims that jalopy takes its name from the Mexican resort town of "Jalapa," where old cars were supposedly sent for repair or resale.

A third explanation traces the term to the French chaloupe, meaning "shallop" or "skiff." Unfortunately, there's no explanation for the vehicle's transition from sea to land, nor for the term's voyage from French into English. Yiddish-Polish offers us the term shlappe meaning "an old horse"; some jalopy-drivers might indeed prefer a horse! Our favorite (and final) theory has a Spanish flavor. Imagine a frustrated Spaniard yelling at his dilapidated old car and calling it as slow as a tortoise—galapago, in Spanish.