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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage
Totter
Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of the participants refer to her grandfather, now 80 years old, a "totter", and the presenter re-phrased it as "rag-and-bone man".
I wonder how it originated in this use, and if this use is possibly related to "totting up" (summing up) or to "tottering".
This was new one on me, and I couldn't find it in a current on-line dictionary, but I did find this on Google at:
http://www.robert-temple.com/oliviasFootnotes/craftmasters4.htm
As a rag-and-bone man, Alf Masterson, who has been doing the rounds in Camden Town for 30 years, is the father of all recycling. He rings a bell as he goes from street to street, his fox terrier Pip balancing precariously on the cart. Pip once picked up three £50 notes in the West End and brought them to Alf in his mouth. "The streets of London are paved with gold," says his master.Alf left school at 13, by which time he had already started "totting" (the word now used for his trade) with a friend's father. Originally, the rags were used for making paper and the bones (from Sunday lunches) collected for glue and bone china. Skips, charity shops and recycling bins have all made life harder for Alf, but he has a knack for recognising all sorts of different types of metal, and counts this ability, as well as good sight, hearing and a way with people, as a requirement for the job.
He reckons that he walks 15 to 20 miles a day, six days a week, and on a good day makes £40 to £50. Alf and his wife Phyllis live in a neat three-storey house which is entirely kitted out with items he has totted over the years, from the beds to the kitchen cupboards and the television set. There are some things he's picked up that he has preferred not to keep, however-including a human skull, a coffin and a stuffed turtle.
I wonder how it originated in this use, and if this use is possibly related to "totting up" (summing up) or to "tottering".
This was new one on me, and I couldn't find it in a current on-line dictionary, but I did find this on Google at:
http://www.robert-temple.com/oliviasFootnotes/craftmasters4.htm
As a rag-and-bone man, Alf Masterson, who has been doing the rounds in Camden Town for 30 years, is the father of all recycling. He rings a bell as he goes from street to street, his fox terrier Pip balancing precariously on the cart. Pip once picked up three £50 notes in the West End and brought them to Alf in his mouth. "The streets of London are paved with gold," says his master.Alf left school at 13, by which time he had already started "totting" (the word now used for his trade) with a friend's father. Originally, the rags were used for making paper and the bones (from Sunday lunches) collected for glue and bone china. Skips, charity shops and recycling bins have all made life harder for Alf, but he has a knack for recognising all sorts of different types of metal, and counts this ability, as well as good sight, hearing and a way with people, as a requirement for the job.
He reckons that he walks 15 to 20 miles a day, six days a week, and on a good day makes £40 to £50. Alf and his wife Phyllis live in a neat three-storey house which is entirely kitted out with items he has totted over the years, from the beds to the kitchen cupboards and the television set. There are some things he's picked up that he has preferred not to keep, however-including a human skull, a coffin and a stuffed turtle.
Top answer
[nq:1]Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of theparticipants refer to her grandfather, now 80 years old, ... htm [/nq] According to Chambers, tot has a slang meaning of "a bone: anything retrieved from a dust-bin or the like" and totter is a "a raker of dust-bins and heaps: a rag-and-bone-man, scrap dealer". Chambers gives its origin as uncertain (it does get a separate entry for this meaning though).
- [nq:1]Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of theparticipants refer to her grandfather, now 80 years old, ...
- htm [/nq] According to Chambers, tot has a slang meaning of "a bone: anything retrieved from a dust-bin or the like" and totter is a "a raker of dust-bins and heaps: a rag-and-bone-man, scrap dealer".
- Chambers gives its origin as uncertain (it does get a separate entry for this meaning though).
- Regards, Arfur
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12 Answers
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[nq:1]Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of theparticipants refer to her grandfather, now 80 years old, ... me, and I couldn't find it in a current on-line dictionary, but I did find this on Google at: http://www.robert-temple.com/oliviasFootnotes/craftmasters4.htm[/nq
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From COD10:
tot3
· v. (totted, totting) (usu. as noun totting) Brit. informal salvage saleable items from dustbins or rubbish heaps.
? DERIVATIVES totter n.
? ORIGIN C19: from sl. tot ?bone?, of unknown origin.
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England
tot3
· v. (totted, totting) (usu. as noun totting) Brit. informal salvage saleable items from dustbins or rubbish heaps.
? DERIVATIVES totter n.
? ORIGIN C19: from sl. tot ?bone?, of unknown origin.
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England
00
[nq:1]According to Chambers, tot has a slang meaning of "a bone: anything retrieved from a dust-bin or the like" and ... a rag-and-bone-man, scrap dealer". Chambers gives its origin as uncertain (it does get a separate entry for this meaning though).[/nq]
I remember the dustmen of London negotiating some kind of payment in lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin
I remember the dustmen of London negotiating some kind of payment in lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin
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Pat Durkin filted:
[nq:1]Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of the participants refer to her grandfather, now 80 years ... it originated in this use, and if this use is possibly related to "totting up" (summing up) or to "tottering".[/nq]
I've always understood "totting up" to derive from "totalling up", which has nothing to do with the "writing off" synonym mentioned
[nq:1]Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of the participants refer to her grandfather, now 80 years ... it originated in this use, and if this use is possibly related to "totting up" (summing up) or to "tottering".[/nq]
I've always understood "totting up" to derive from "totalling up", which has nothing to do with the "writing off" synonym mentioned
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[nq:2]According to Chambers, tot has a slang meaning of "a ... (it does get a separate entry for this meaning though).[/nq]
[nq:1]I remember the dustmen of London negotiating some kind of payment in lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin lorry that made bin-diving difficult.[/nq]
Thanks to both you and Arfur. I suppose like many slang words, we can guess an
[nq:1]I remember the dustmen of London negotiating some kind of payment in lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin lorry that made bin-diving difficult.[/nq]
Thanks to both you and Arfur. I suppose like many slang words, we can guess an
00
[nq:2]According to Chambers, tot has a slang meaning of "a ... (it does get a separate entry for this meaning though).[/nq]
[nq:1]I remember the dustmen of London negotiating some kind of payment in lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin lorry that made bin-diving difficult.[/nq]
For years most commercial enterprises and blocks of flats near where I've live
[nq:1]I remember the dustmen of London negotiating some kind of payment in lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin lorry that made bin-diving difficult.[/nq]
For years most commercial enterprises and blocks of flats near where I've live
00
[nq:2]I remember the dustmen of London negotiating some kind of ... a new kind of bin lorry that made bin-diving difficult.[/nq]
[nq:1]For years most commercial enterprises and blocks of flats near where I've lived have had huge dustbins, varying between 5 ... arm, so the council has to run (or sub-contract)two different sorts of trucks. There's no chance at all of bin-diving.[/nq]Dumpster-div
[nq:1]For years most commercial enterprises and blocks of flats near where I've lived have had huge dustbins, varying between 5 ... arm, so the council has to run (or sub-contract)two different sorts of trucks. There's no chance at all of bin-diving.[/nq]Dumpster-div
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[nq:1]dust-bins as[/nq]
(amusing anecdote snipped for brevity)
At least we don't have raccoons.
In the days before we had plastic refuse sacks and huge bins, I had an Asian friend who furnished most of his house by wandering the streets and picking up other people's discarded furniture and fittings. He was not some sort of poverty-stricken totter. He lectured in maths at university lev
(amusing anecdote snipped for brevity)
At least we don't have raccoons.
In the days before we had plastic refuse sacks and huge bins, I had an Asian friend who furnished most of his house by wandering the streets and picking up other people's discarded furniture and fittings. He was not some sort of poverty-stricken totter. He lectured in maths at university lev
00
Dr Robin Bignall filted:
[nq:1]In the days before we had plastic refuse sacks and huge bins, I had an Asian friend who furnished most ... people's discarded furniture and fittings. He was not some sort of poverty-stricken totter. He lectured in maths at university level.[/nq]
In some circles it's considered a type of sport...one displays one's ingenuity by finding clever ways to use a disc
[nq:1]In the days before we had plastic refuse sacks and huge bins, I had an Asian friend who furnished most ... people's discarded furniture and fittings. He was not some sort of poverty-stricken totter. He lectured in maths at university level.[/nq]
In some circles it's considered a type of sport...one displays one's ingenuity by finding clever ways to use a disc
00
[nq:2]Dumpster-diving in the US is simple, at least in my ... set aside for their partners to pick up in cars.[/nq]
[nq:1](amusing anecdote snipped for brevity) At least we don't have raccoons. In the days before we had plastic refuse sacks ... people's discarded furniture and fittings. He was not some sort of poverty-stricken totter. He lectured in maths at university level.[/nq]
We don't
[nq:1](amusing anecdote snipped for brevity) At least we don't have raccoons. In the days before we had plastic refuse sacks ... people's discarded furniture and fittings. He was not some sort of poverty-stricken totter. He lectured in maths at university level.[/nq]
We don't
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