I have a friend, born and raised in the northeast, and it is an unending source of amusement to him that to me a “toboggan” is a knit-type winter cap you wear on your head when it’s cold outside. To him it is a kind of sled for riding down snow covered hills. I was brought up in Kentucky and honestly can’t recall ever hearing the sled definition until I was an adult and did some traveling.

So the question is this – what was the first meaning of the word toboggan you knew and what part of the country were you brought up in?

quote:

a type of sled for riding down snow covered hills

Iowa

I’m with you, JSW. When I was a kid we wore toboggans when it was cold. My ex in-laws thought it amusing also.

It's a Togue eh.

quote:

Originally posted by hudr:
I’m with you, JSW. When I was a kid we wore toboggans when it was cold. My ex in-laws thought it amusing also.

This is strange because as a life long Texan I’ve never heard it called a toboggan until recently in life. We always wore “winter hats” or more recently beanies.

Growing up in Alabama a toboggan was for your noggin, a sled was for riding downhill on the rare snow days we got.

I wear mine regularly (actually a "watch cap" from a KARMA that Brecadria made and offered...it's my favorite winter head wear)...when I hear toboggan I think of a "sock hat" being from the south and all

I grew up in the upper midwest. Toboggans were sleds not hats.

Sled.

Brooklyn, NY.

The first time I heard about wearing a toboggan was after I moved to South Carolina.

NW here and toboggans were (are) sleds without rails and knitted hats were (are) watch caps.

Jim

The first time I ever heard “toboggan” described as a hat is about a minute ago when I opened this thread. Of course, a “toboggan” isn’t just a sled, it’s a very specific type of sled of all wood construction with a steam bent bow in the front.

Sort of like a sled, but not exactly. A sled has runners, a toboggan slides on a flat wooden bottom.

The thing on your head? I was issued a watch cap in boot camp (Navy).

The Urban Dictionary has another definition for toboggan, referring to sex on the stairs.

Central Lower Peninsula Michigan.

A toboggan was a wooden, flat-bottomed sledding device, usually held 4 or more people.

That thing on yer noggin was a stocking cap until I joined the Navy, at which time it became a watch cap.

I want to say, here in the south, it was probably a “tobogganing hat” then was shortened to just toboggan.

This is a toboggan

I'm from the Northeast, and a toboggan was always a type of sled.
This is actually the first time I've heard of a hat type called that.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
I'm from the Northeast, and a toboggan was always a type of sled.
This is actually the first time I've heard of a hat type called that.

Ditto.

A toboggan was a winter hat that kept your ears from freezing!! Perhaps a Southern thing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GT-40DOC,

Sled has 2 runners. Toboggans have wooden slats.

I grew up in Colorado a long time ago. A Toboggan was a sled. The knit cap was a “ski hat”, some neighbor kids called it a toque.