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Monday 16 June 2014

Spot the Frippet: tile.

Here's an easy one. Tiles are everywhere.

Porzione del pattern orientali
Picture by Vera Kratochvil

Well, not actually everywhere, but quite probably on the roof above your head and the floor beneath your feet - and if you're in a bathroom or kitchen, quite probably on the walls, as well.

Then there are tiles on mirror balls and in mosaics and mah jong:

File:Mahjong solitaire-01.jpg
picture: Shurikane
 
And if all those options fail you because you are in the middle of the jungle or at the South Pole or in Outer Space or something then a tile in Britain is a hat, as in the lines from the old song Any Old Iron:

Dressed in style,
Brand new tile,
With your father's old green tie on. 
Design - Apparel - Hat - Children's Wool hats
 

Apparently a short bit of pipe that fits together with others to make a drain is called a tile, too. But we're not going to have to bother with anything so boring today.

Are we?

Spot the Frippet: tile. This word comes from the Old English tīgele, from the Latin tēgula. Tile meaning hat is a London term, but it isn't rhyming slang - they're just both things that get put on top.
 

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