Taters, tuck, and Tyke

[davec]

Taters

Americans call potatoes 'taters' and 'spuds' , so 'Tater Tots' is of obvious derivation.

Tuck

I note that Aussies call food 'tucker'. If this is not now the case in Britain, it probably was back when Australia was being populated with British prisoners, and in characteristic colonial fashion, they've held onto a term while the mother tongue has move on. (Texans still occasionally say 'are you being have?' -- pure Elizabethan).

Tyke

Also the nickname for the Yorkshire dialect. Any idea of the origin? Perhaps Old Norse for 'easily conquered twits'.

[SepticTone]

Taters

Americans call potatoes 'taters' and 'spuds' , so 'Tater Tots' is of obvious derivation.

Tuck

I note that Aussies call food 'tucker'. If this is not now the case in Britain, it probably was back when Australia was being populated with British prisoners, and in characteristic colonial fashion, they've held onto a term while the mother tongue has move on. (Texans still occasionally say 'are you being have?' -- pure Elizabethan).

Tyke

Also the nickname for the Yorkshire dialect. Any idea of the origin? Perhaps Old Norse for 'easily conquered twits'.

A) I don't know what 'Tater Tots' are, so can't comment. We still call potatoes spuds, the Scots still sometimes call potatoes 'tatties', as in 'tatties an neeps (turnips)' A spud is also referred to in NW England as a hole in the back of your sock. Or vice versa.

B) 'Tucker' is a purely Australian term for food, probably derived from the English 'Tuck in', meaning 'eat with gusto', as the convicts on the ships were rarely fed properly: serves them right for stealing bread in the first place. (gusto is not an obscure Italian sauce, nor an obscure sexual reference to homosexuality)

C) As a Lancastrian, where we still remember the Wars of the Roses, & having won them, & still have a healthy race-memory disdain for Yorkshire people, I can comment. When I was a kid, a 'tyke' was a runtish child from a poor background, a tramp or anybody from Yorkshire.

[davec]

Tater Tots

I realize I didn't clarify the word 'tot' - the sort of brainfarts you have when trying to write posts after a long day's work. A 'tot' in America, in case it isn't so used elsewhere, is a very small child. Tater Tots are small bits of ground potato stuck together will oil, a bit of salt, and garlic -- basically a bite-sized version of the latke, or Jewish potato pancake. They go right from the freezer onto a cookie sheet and under the oven broiler, providing a quick, tasty, and thoroughly unhealthy accompaniment to whatever other garbage you're obviously having for the evening meal (dinner, supper, High Tea, whatever).

Tyke

My, my--G. B. Shaw was right-- it's impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making another Englishman hate him. I post here and on a couple of U.K. based astronomy forums. They're very friendly overall, but I sometimes feel I should just keep my Yank nose out of commentary that seems regionally slanted in any way. Feel free to bash away at us, though. The only people who really give a crap about regionalism anymore in America are a few thinskinned, xenophobic East Coast types, like old people from Maine, who consider you a tourist if your great-great-great grandparents moved there in 1856. Screw 'em.
As for your victory--well, you lot had Ecky-Thump. Of course you won.

[SepticTone]

Tater Tots

Tyke

My, my--G. B. Shaw was right-- it's impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making another Englishman hate him. I post here and on a couple of U.K. based astronomy forums. They're very friendly overall, but I sometimes feel I should just keep my Yank nose out of commentary that seems regionally slanted in any way. Feel free to bash away at us, though. The only people who really give a crap about regionalism anymore in America are a few thinskinned, xenophobic East Coast types, like old people from Maine, who consider you a tourist if your great-great-great grandparents moved there in 1856. Screw 'em.
As for your victory--well, you lot had Ecky-Thump. Of course you won.

I love it when I can create constructive disharmony in the intellectually-challenged.. Gastronomy/Astronomy: thank the Lord we in Europe don't espouse your view of either disciplines. Regionalism: A racist loony South Carolinan Senator calls a Northerner black President a Liar, harking back to the Civil War?... Xenophobia: fear of foreigners from the East Coast from an indigent American?

You should, perhaps be slightly more circumspect when commenting, as a yank, on something you clearly know nothing about, apart from via Wikipedia. Come to the boundary between Colne & Barnoldswick, or Colne & Kelbrook, & see the xenophobic hate monuments erected by the tykes, complete with threats to Lancastrians, before you comment, my friend. I at least speak from personal experience.

[Me]

I live in New York and most of the time we say potatoe, with the exception of tater tots. I have heard spuds used in reference to chips (crisps for you Brits) i.e. a bag of spuds.

[davec]

To SepticTone:

I must take your criticism concerning your local circumstances. I will strive to fill in my knowledge of affairs in the area. Sometimes current problems like unemployment and unfair taxation can keep old animosities kindling along.

As for regionalism in America, you will find economic tension between North and South, which of course shows up in politics as you exemplify, but the cultural divide has much fallen. Blacks from the North have been moving back to Georgia and Alabama in recent years and found the people friendly, a drastic change since the 1960s, to say the least. East coast / West coast tensions from the past are long gone, as the West coast is no longer owned by wealthy Easterners. There are localized areas such as Maine, or some parts of northeast Tennessee, where I would not consider moving to as I would be treated as an outsider, but I lived for a while in New Orleans in 1973 and was not at all treated as a 'Northerner' by anybody. Thirty years earlier, that would have not been the case. For the most part, Americans can move from almost anywhere to anywhere and be taken into the local community, quite a bit more so than in earlier times. One area may have issues with another area, but it's economy vs. economy. People from each area can usually move to the other and be accepted by locals. It sounds like you wouldn't have such a great time if you picked up and moved to Yorkshire.
As I described the situation in rural Maine, this exceptional isolation still exists, and I feel correct in describing it as 'xenophobia' -- fear or hatred of strangers. They don't have to be of a different race.

[SepticTone]

Point taken.
The historic animosity between Lancastrians & Yorkists is now largely expressed in sarcasm, rather than outright belligerence. Sarcasm is one trait we Brits have in abundance, as you may have noticed.

We'd have no problem relocating to Yorkshire, as the border's only 3 miles away! LOL! and many of my relatives now live in Haworth, some 15 miles away, but still deepest Yorkshire.

'Tuck': I now remember where this came from.

Private schools in England (paradoxically called Public Schools here, although they account for 5% of our education system, & are fee-paying), used to allow their inmates to have 'tuck boxes' under their beds, in which to store food from home, as the food provided by the school was largely inedible. They also used to have 'Tuck Shops' outside the school walls where the kids could buy candy, etc. Conceivably, the Australian noun tuck derives from this. 'Tuck In', also seems to fit this scenario, if the pampered Upper Class Public Schoolboys allowed their classmates to share their Tuck. I dunno.