What is a Toboggan?

[Sunny]

I was talking with a friend of mine who is near Pittsburgh tonight, and he was saying that it was quite chilly, so he put on his toboggan. Your what???, I asked. A toboggan. You know, a knit sock cap. Ooooh! I told him that here in Canada, at least in southern Ontario, a toboggan is something that's used to slide down a snowy hillside. What he was talking about we call a "toque" (pronounced took, as in hoot). Have any of you heard of this winter hat being called a toboggan??

I love stuff like this, regional differences in language and word usage. Anyone have others they'd care to share?

 

[SilverDollar]

How funny! All I could picture was him putting a giant sled on his head! Toboggans bring back fond memories.

I'm sure you heard this one. My grandmother used to call the sofa a "davenport". She was from back east (U.S.). And also..."Icebox" = Refrigerator

As kids we used to giggle every time my grandma used different terms.

: I always liked learning those geographic terms.

 

[minimomNC]

Yep here in the south its a sock cap, hardly ever any snow to slide much of anything on but we call that a sled. Funny how words are used so differently.

 

[laughingllama75]

: Too funny, here in New Hampshire (USA) we call a tobaggan a long sled too. A knit cap is a knit cap or a hat........too funny. You must have thought "HUH???!!" when he said it was on his head. LOL! Thanks for sharing,

Alicia

 

[anoki]

I was talking with a friend of mine who is near Pittsburgh tonight, and he was saying that it was quite chilly, so he put on his toboggan. Your what???, I asked. A toboggan. You know, a knit sock cap. Ooooh! I told him that here in Canada, at least in southern Ontario, a toboggan is something that's used to slide down a snowy hillside. What he was talking about we call a "toque" (pronounced took, as in hoot). Have any of you heard of this winter hat being called a toboggan??

I love stuff like this, regional differences in language and word usage. Anyone have others they'd care to share?

A toque a toboggan????? LOL I would have been totally shocked and thought wow, you must have a lot of snow if you're getting your toboggan out!!! lol But I do know toque is a very Canadian thing....

yep sometimes toboggan's are called sleds, but there is a certain type of sled that will always be a sled, and a type of sled that is always a toboggan...does that make any sense??

:

I've heard of sofas being called davenports....doesn't that come from the style of old ones or something? As well as Icebox...which was literally what they were in the beginning.

~kathryn

 

[tigeresss]

Hahaha that's hillarious.

Yep toboggons are something you use to go down a hill with in the snow. A sled is also something used for this purpose but they're two different things...same things but different! haha that makes zero sense for those who aren't familiar with it. anoki understands! haha When I think of a toboggon I think of the long wooden ones with a curved front. Whereas sleds are normally smaller in length and don't have that curve.

Toques are knitted hats used to keep the head (and normally ears) warm.

In England pants are your underwear and here pants are trousers. Well actually the proper term for pants(i.e. things worn on the legs) is trousers but not many people here use that term anymore.

Potato chips in England are called Crisps...and chips are frenchfries. In England hamburger is litterally a bun with ham on it, although that has changed a bit over the years.

We call drinks such as Sprite, Fanta, GingerAle etc "pop" in the states I think it's called "soda" and over in England it's called "fizzy drink".

Hmmm that's all for now..time for lunch! haha.

 

[tagalong]

Technically - a toboggan is flat...

...and a sled has runners on the bottom...

I grew up in Montreal - and we called that large piece of furniture in the living room a chesterfield... not a sofa, couch, or davenport. I thought a davenport was what we called a hide-a-bed... (not a sleeper-sofa) :bgrin

But a toque has always been a toque.

And sometimes - living here now - I still say pop instead of soda.

 

[runamuk]

Yep Tagalong is correct that is a toboggan and it looks very much like the one my neighbors father was using and broke his ankle hitting a stump :bgrin :bgrin :bgrin those things don't steer real well

:

 

[tigeresss]

Yes that's exactly how I picture a sled and toboggan! Cheers very much. We always use sleds here (toboggons if absolutely needed! haha) because they go faster, better and are easier to manipulate where you want them to go!

 

[Jill]

Man... Ya'll talk funny :bgrin

 

[Lisa]

:new_shocked: haha! I was like WHAT?? Yeah, we call it a toque in BC and a toboggan is a sled that you slide down a hill!

 

[River1018]

Ya'll??? We don't say that in Minnesota :bgrin :bgrin

 

[Farmhand]

How funny! All I could picture was him putting a giant sled on his head! Toboggans bring back fond memories.

I'm sure you heard this one. My grandmother used to call the sofa a "davenport". She was from back east (U.S.). And also..."Icebox" = Refrigerator

As kids we used to giggle every time my grandma used different terms.

: I always liked learning those geographic terms.

They used to call them Icebox because that is what they used, Ice, to keep stuff cold. Didn't have refrigerators. Who remembers a milk shute? Or taking out the klinkers.

 

[Jill]

Ya'll??? We don't say that in Minnesota :bgrin :bgrin

I know :bgrin I was trying to be funny

 

[River1018]

:bgrin

 

[Sue_C.]

Or taking out the klinkers.

We still DO!!

: :bgrin

 

[backwoodsnanny]

Your pics of toboggan and sled are right on but what the heck are klinkers? We have clunkers which are old cars as in we drive a clunker but dont know about Klinker and as for the couch sofa davenport it can also be a divan. lol

 

[Farmhand]

We used to heat with coal, after the coal burns down what is left is called 'clinkers' they are the ash. Some people used to use them in the winter time when it was icey for traction. That used to be my job, to fill the "stoker" at night with coal and clean the 'clinkers' out. If I fogot, it could get pretty cold at night

:

 

[whitney]

Anyone know what a zink is? My dads word.

The ones that mess me up is supper and dinner thank GOD breakfast is the same, what happend to LUNCH?

 

[Sonya]

I'm from Pittsburgh originally and never heard a cap called a toboggan...a tobaoggan to me is a sled without runners.