Grand Avenue by Mike Thompson for September 18, 2012
September 17, 2012
September 19, 2012
Transcript:
Teeter-totter? Where did that weird name come from? Isn't there a name for this thing that actually makes sense? Seesaw? Never mind.
rhtatro about 12 years ago
Bouncing balance board.
tagteam about 12 years ago
Jump off while she is in the air and you will hear a name that makes sense!
Bosn_c_otter about 12 years ago
A manually reversing inclined plane.
Comic Minister Premium Member about 12 years ago
Correct Mike.
burleigh2 about 12 years ago
I always thought those names were given because that’s what it sounds like when it needs to be oiled… “Tee-ter… to-ter” or “seeeee… saaaaaw”… think about it!
hippogriff about 12 years ago
Bosn_c_otter: Not quite; the reversing is done pedally.
BRI-NO-MITE!! Premium Member about 12 years ago
Teeter totterBread and water…
doris sloan about 12 years ago
Teetering and tottering on the edge of disaster. Or at least it seemed like that to me…
rogcbrand about 12 years ago
The outdoor toy usually called a seesaw has a number of regional names, New England having the greatest variety in the smallest area. In southeast New England it is called a tilt or a tilting board. Speakers in northeast Massachusetts call it a teedle board; in the Narragansett Bay area the term changes to dandle or dandle board. Teeter or teeterboard is used more generally in the northeast United States, while teeter-totter, probably the most common term after seesaw, is used across the inland northern states and westward to the West Coast. Both seesaw (from the verb saw) and teeter-totter (from teeter, as in to teeter on the edge) demonstrate the linguistic process called reduplication, where a word or syllable is doubled, often with a different vowel. Reduplication is typical of words that indicate repeated activity, such as riding up and down on a seesaw.