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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004totter
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. > 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 [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > dictionary, but I did find this on Google at: > http://www.robert-temple.com/oliviasFootnotes/craftmasters4.htm 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 > 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 [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > picked up that he has preferred not to keep, however-including a human > skull, a coffin and a stuffed turtle. >> Just now, while listening to "Bargain Hunt", I heard one of the >participants [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >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). 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.  Signaturewrmst rgrds Robin Bignall Quiet part of Hertfordshire England > 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). 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. SignatureFrances Kemmish Production Manager East Coast Youth Ballet www.byramartscenter.com > > 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 [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin > lorry that made bin-diving difficult. Thanks to both you and Arfur. I suppose like many slang words, we can guess and assume, just as well as the best of the dictionaries, can't we? I just suppose my collection of guesses will never be published under my name, so I suppose I should accept what authority is provided. (gripes my guts, though!) >> 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 [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >lieu of "totting" - perhaps after the introduction of a new kind of bin >lorry that made bin-diving difficult. For years most commercial enterprises and blocks of flats near where I've lived have had huge dustbins, varying between 5 and 10 feet tall, with an attachment on the side. A refuse truck has a hydraulic arm that slots through that attachment, lifts the bin, turns it almost upside down, and empties it into the truck in seconds. The trucks have a crusher inside that compacts the rubbish. The block of flats where Jeanne lives has such bins, and she has to stand on a platform adjacent to the bins to put her rubbish sacks into one. These bin collections are usually made daily. I have to put rubbish out at my house in special degradable black sacks which are supplied by the council. This collection is weekly. The trucks that collect my refuse also have a crusher and compactor, but do not have the hydraulic arm, so the council has to run (or sub-contract) two different sorts of trucks. There's no chance at all of bin-diving. Signaturewrmst rgrds Robin Bignall Quiet part of Hertfordshire England > >> 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 [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > There's no chance at all of bin-diving. Dumpster-diving in the US is simple, at least in my neighborhood. A variety of divers wander the neighborhoods, usually on their bicycles, but some in autos. They carry large bags and long sticks, and ruffle through the trash on the lookout for recyclable cans, and perhaps other things which they set aside for their partners to pick up in cars. Sometimes they make terrible messes, and don't put back the sacks of trash that they remove to get at the goodies beneath. Our bins are up to 4.5 feet deep and wide, and 10-12 feet long, so the ambitious can clamber in. The 4 to 6 lids are not secured, and are easily flipped open to enable us to dump our goodies in an even (yeah, like we all do that) layer. Sometimes the uncaring will cover the lids with rolls of carpet being disposed of, or swivel chairs, etc. The next people to drop stuff off will leave their trash "beside" the dumpster. Lovely to contemplate. The very worst, however, was the fisherman, probably not a resident, who left his bait or fish guts, etc. in the bin to cook and rot for 4 days before the usual pickup. If it happens now, I can call the town government to make a special trash run. However, I have found that crows and gulls are as likely as dogs and raccoons to drag bags of refuse out of the smaller, individual cans, as are provided in the parks. On my walks through some more commercial neighborhoods, I encounter dumpsters that appear almost hermetically sealed, with all kinds of reminders of the kind of trash within, and warnings that the bins are private. I suppose their cleaning crews are the only ones who have key access. That really frustrated me when I had doggy doo that I wanted to drop off, while walking the neighbor's dog. Sometimes I had to wait until I got back to my own neighborhood to drop the deposit off. >> >> 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 [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] >on the lookout for recyclable cans, and perhaps other things which they set >aside for their partners to pick up in cars. [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 level. Signaturewrmst rgrds Robin Bignall Quiet part of Hertfordshire England Dr Robin Bignall filted: >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 level. In some circles it's considered a type of sport...one displays one's ingenuity by finding clever ways to use a discarded item that is no longer suitable for its original purpose.... My parents, back in the late 1980s, managed an apartment complex (until the bipolar owner had one of his episodes and angrily fired every person who worked for him, and probably three or four who didn't)...at one point they set about clearing bric-a-brac out of one of the storerooms on the property...most items were taken outside, placed on one of the picnic tables in the recreation area, and left there for anyone who wanted to take them; few remained more than an hour or two.... (I got a nice set of framed Chinese prints for the dining room)....r >>Dumpster-diving in the US is simple, at least in my neighborhood. A variety >>of divers wander the neighborhoods, usually on their bicycles, but some in [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > picking up other people's discarded furniture and fittings. He was not some > sort of poverty-stricken totter. He lectured in maths at university level. We don't have racoons, but two Australian crows (really ravens) can easily tip over a wheelie bin unless it's got heavy stuff inside. What we have though, are 'verge(-side) collections' - about 4 times a year: two are for garden rubbish; two are for furniture and white goods, etc. You pile your unwanted chairs and computers or whatever on the grass verge. Long before the council truck comes round, in fact usually within a few hours of your putting the stuff out, people come trolling round and take it away, cardboard boxes and all. I once saw a Mercedes with a trailer removing some broken kitchen chairs I'd thrown out. SignatureRob Bannister > >>Dumpster-diving in the US is simple, at least in my neighborhood. A variety > >>of divers wander the neighborhoods, usually on their bicycles, but some in [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > round and take it away, cardboard boxes and all. I once saw a Mercedes > with a trailer removing some broken kitchen chairs I'd thrown out. The "city" of Madison (as opposed to the miniscule separated island of the "town" of Madison" where I live) has the same periodic "boulevard" or "terrace" collections of large rubbish. Some are seasonal, as for Christmas trees in January, leaf waste in fall, and a couple of times a year for tree trimmings and furniture. The furniture is a good bait for rummage salers. White ware requires a payment of a recycling fee, and an identified dumper of such on the boulevards earns a penalty. There is another regular pickup along the city streets, which I am sure any University town will recognize. For about a week in August, new college students finding apartments, rout out all the old furniture from the apartments (or their landlords get in a rush to pretty up the apartments to let), and mountains of used furnishings fill the boulevards, tying up traffic as the dump trucks slowly try to keep up with the trash. Many of the disposed-of articles will be recycled at garage and yard sales for years afterward. >>>Dumpster-diving in the US is simple, at least in my neighborhood. A variety >>>of divers wander the neighborhoods, usually on their bicycles, but some in [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >round and take it away, cardboard boxes and all. I once saw a Mercedes >with a trailer removing some broken kitchen chairs I'd thrown out. In your old home town, in addition to weekly collection of household rubbish, we have collection of garden rubbish one week, paper and cans the next. Bottles are not collected, and have to be taken to a bottle bank, and all other rubbish has to be taken to the council dump in Pindar Road. I don't know if the council will collect large items for a fee. If my garden rubbish will compost, it goes onto the heap; if not, it's burned in an incinerator. Signaturewrmst rgrds Robin Bignall Quiet part of Hertfordshire England Pat Durkin filted: >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". I've always understood "totting up" to derive from "totalling up", which has nothing to do with the "writing off" synonym mentioned here recently.... >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. Not to worry...we have Tim Burton for that sort of thing....r |
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