Toboggans & Toques

Did you know...'toque' is a distinctly Canadian word?

When at the Lost Valley dude ranch in Colorado last week, surrounded by falling snow, we asked the gift shop lady if she had any toques--we got a blank stare.

Why we wanted a toque...

Toque (pronounced two-k) is, according the Collins Canadian English Dictionary "a small round hat". That's not how I'd define the knitted ware us Canucks slide down over our noggins to keep out the cold.  That 'small round' hat is only small and round if ones' head is small and round.  As those in the know know, knit fabrics tend to take the shape of whatever it is one wraps in it. 

At least, however, the Collins Canadian English Dictionary acknowledges 'toque' as a word, although 't-o-q-u-e' is not how I'd spell it.  It ends up looking like 'toke' and I don't like all the criminal implications associated with that word.  No, if I had my druthers, it would be spelled 't-o-u-q-u-e',  but I have yet to find a dictionary that agrees with me.

So what do people who aren't Canadians call these knitted winter hats? We enquired and learned that those in Tennessee likely called them 'toboggans'.  Toboggan, according to Collins Canadian English Diction is a 'narrow sledge for sliding over snow'--which closely matches my definition.  Except I would add that the front of this narrow sledge, which is made of wood slats, curls up and back over the toes of those who sit on it.

Not all Americans call toques, 'toboggans'.  Those in Alabama will likely shortened it to 'boggans'.  To some, according to my fellow dudes and dudines, they are simply hats--winter hats.

 Toques were obviously not the most popular headware at Lost Valley Ranch

Comments

[m. murray]

Sorry it took 4 years for me to answer this. I just read it now. ¨Toque¨ is what I have always called it. I am from New England (Springfield, Ma. to be more specific). I heard the word ¨toboggan¨ used as a word for hat for the first time a few years ago. To me a toboggan is only a sled with no runners. Of course their are many words for things here in New England that are not used throughout the whole country.

REPLY: Thanks for leaving a comment. Perhaps 'toque' isn't a distinctly Canadian word! ~Eileen Schuh, author