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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 14
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 14 |
Thanks for the welcome, Bingley!
And there's a thought -- 'Toffee Apples'. Are they just a British thing? Do you find them anywhere else? Haven't seen a toffee apple for years.
And what about Bonfire Toffee? Anyone remember that? Dark, bitter brown and wicked for the teeth. My mum reckons that toffee apples were made from dipping apples on a stick into bonfire toffee -- not just any old toffee -- and then left to set. And you got a crisp disc of toffee on the top. (Oh, droooolll...)
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
If they're the same thing we call taffy apples we got them here in Left Pondia, too.
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
veteran
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veteran
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529 |
"...haven’t had a mo to check the normal sources, but if any ace researcher has a chance please feel free"Maverick! I think I've heard " She can't _____ for toffee" here in the Alabama south. But we have a lot "can't for" phrases down here so I can't be for certain. But what good luck. Today I have a road trip planned to rural Alabama. Can I be your Ace Reasearcher in the whole southern South?  I will report back to headquarters this evening. - themilum, A.R.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
I've heard, "He can't XX for squat."
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
“S/he can’t X for toffee” was very common in the UK and I don't think it belonged to any particular region. The expression implies, to me, that you can't do whatever it is well enough even to be given a piece of toffee for it.
I still hear it used but I'm not too sure about the age group using it, it may be falling out of fashion, but perhaps not. Certainly my grandmother used the expression so it has had a good long life.
No proof of the origin, but I suspect that it came from the fairgrounds' habit that became common in the nineteen twenties and thirties, and perhaps before then, of giving a toffee as the minimum prize for simple children's skill challenges. At different skill levels, ages and times it has been a penny or a coconut or, more recently, a goldfish in a water filled polythene bag.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
In reply to:
The expression implies, to me, that you can't do whatever it is well enough even to be given a piece of toffee for it.
That's a plausible explanation, dxb.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Thnaks for the further responses. Yes, the fairground association seems about right territory. I note a lot of google hits of current use turn up sports reports in the red-tops, so confirming their positioning for a reader with the vocabulary of an average primary school child!
Anyone who has heard this expression, have you come across the "toffeenuts" version?
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
Toffeenuts? Nope. Aside: Can't say I like the type of caramelised toffee that goes around toffee apples by the way. It tastes burnt to me. But I'll fight for MM's right to drool over it .
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
[steps around puddle of drooool] Has anyone heard from our agent in Allybam, or should we send out search parties?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
should we send out search parties?
I volunteer! It's bound to be warmer than here, and I've got family where Groucho used to go elephant hunting.
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