Pick ups

[Noelia]

Why are PICK UP trucks called that way? Is there any other meaning for Pick Up than the one I know (pick someone up?)?

[Robie]

The only thing that I can think of is that it is also used to pick up cargo. It was probably named that way by farmers in the time of the early automobile as they used it to help them with their chores. But in this case, "Pick up" is a little more literal than if you were to "pick up someone". Usually, that just means you go to their house and they walk under their own power and there is no physical picking up being done. But if I use my pickup truck (the bigger the better in Texas, of course) to pickup a load of manure (or whatever else you want to pickup), you are physically picking something up (with or without assistance) and putting it into the back of these trucks.

That's my guess anyway. I tried to search for a real answer but it wasn't easy to find so I decided to invent something.

[Noelia]

Thanks, that makes sense, picking up cargo is probably the reason they got that name.