I've heard the term toboggan referring to headgear, but it's just wrong.

Hats go on your head.

Toboggans go under your butt while you're sliding down a snowy hill at death defying speeds hoping that you don't hit a rock or a tree.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
I can honestly say I've NEVER heard the term toboggan applied to headwear. It has and shall always be a fun wooden sled without runners for barreling down slopes. And FWIW I grew up in upstate NY.

Same here. I was born in in Mass but grew up half an hour from Bald1.

It's worn on your head silly Yankees!

Also around here it's pronounced TOWboggan. Least ways for us natives.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GarandGuy,

quote:

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

Ditto.

And chili has beans in it!

Goes on your head !

quote:

Originally posted by cooger:
From KY also- a toboggan keeps your noggin warm. The thing you ride down a hill in the snow is a sled.

Ditto. I'm also from Kentucky and the first thing I think of is a knit hat that is worn in the winter. And in the rare cases that it snowed enough to go sledding, I loved to go with my rich cousins that had a nice wooden toboggan that all four of us could ride down the snowy hill. But of course they brought it with them when they moved back home to Kentucky after living in New York for ten years. All we had were Flexible Flyers or the cheap plastic "sleds"!

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
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.

Same here.

...and this is NOT a case of regional terms like faucet versus spigot. This is just plain nuts.






Happy New Years!

And is your fence cyclone, or page wire?

I’ve never heard of a toboggan hat. It’s always been a sled in my neck of the woods.

I’m originally from Fla...no need for toboggans...it’s flat and it snowed in 1976 and agin in 89...

But when I got stationed in NC and then lived there I found a toboggan is a watch cap.

Those guys ain’t right.....

Although I grew up in the Central Valley of California which almost never sees any snow, I always understood a toboggan to be a sled.

quote:

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

Yep. Usually referred to as a “boggan” or “boggin”.

As a kid my mother made me wear my toboggan, if I remember my Dad called it a stocking cap. As a Marine in Iceland we called it a watch cap.

You ride a toboggan. Never heard of it as a hat. Small town Missouri.....

It’s always been a sled to me, I never heard heard it used for the name of a hat.

Toboggan is a sled, although in Georgia we always just called it a sled.

A boggin or boggin hat/cap is knit hat aka stocking cap.

In Vermont, you wear Toques and ride on toboggans. Who would ever want to wear a sled?

Toboggans are hats here. Sleds are sleds, even the ones with runners.

I grew up with toboggans as warm headwear. When the US Army moved us to Germany in the 60’s, I had a lot of friends who rode their toboggans down “Suicide Hill”. Interesting to see the different use of the word.