# The knitted winter hat - what do YOU call it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 16, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901 "2019-01-16T22:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/81 "2019-01-18T12:15:15Z")
My Boy Scout Handbook called them “Navy Watch Caps”, which sounds like something you wear when you’re on watch in the Navy. Makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/82 "2019-01-18T13:21:34Z")
We never had them when I were lad, we just had the bobble-hat. Which was also just called a woolly hat. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/83 "2019-01-18T13:31:18Z")
Wool hat. Just ask [Michael Nesmith](https://www.google.com/search?q=monkees+nesmith&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS752US752&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRxLWAuPffAhUFTN8KHX2fDC8Q_AUIDygC&biw=1272&bih=865#imgrc=jUIWZQJtamPyKM:). (During at least the first year of the show, TV Guide listed his character as “Wool Hat.”) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/84 "2019-01-18T13:37:35Z")
After practice last night, I asked this question of the other 4 people. The first 2 answers were beanie and toque - tho both of those folk later said that wasn’t what they would really call them. One other guy agreed with me as to knit/watch cap. The 4th said he was from Florida, and they didn’t have such things and, hence, no need to call them anything. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/85 "2019-01-18T13:53:11Z")
Winter hat or wool hat or just hat. Maybe knit or knitted hat or warm hat. I wouldn’t recognize toboggan used like that. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/86 "2019-01-18T15:08:44Z")
I’ve heard the term “toque,” but only as used by Bob and Doug McKenzie, or people quoting them. When I was a kid, “stocking caps” were knitted and reeeaaaally long, like four feet long. Then the seventies ended and we all wised up, and they got just big enough to fit your head. But they were still called stocking caps in my neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/87 "2019-01-18T15:09:06Z")
Mom knitted and her children all wore stocking caps. ETA: and they were just big enough to cover your head, measured as she was knitting them (mom wasn’t wasting any yarn). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/88 "2019-01-18T15:11:51Z")
It’s a toque. Philistines. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/89 "2019-01-18T15:37:02Z")
Toque or tuque. I’ve seen both spellings. I have never once heard of a watch cap. ETA: And toboggans are indeed sleds. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/90 "2019-01-18T15:38:46Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > It’s a toque. > Philistines. Honestly this sort of thing shouldn’t even be up for a vote. Next they’ll be trying to tell us that ‘hockey’ without qualification can sometimes mean field hockey instead of real hockey. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/91 "2019-01-18T16:32:40Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Honestly this sort of thing shouldn’t even be up for a vote. Next they’ll be trying to tell us that ‘hockey’ without qualification can sometimes mean field hockey instead of real hockey. You mean horse hockey? 😃 Never heard of _toque_ before this thread. I call the item in question a _knit cap_, and have heard _ski cap, wool cap_, and _toboggan_, and wouldn’t blink an eye at any of them. But it is not a _beanie_. It is also not a hat, it’s a cap. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/92 "2019-01-18T16:57:36Z")
Tossle-hat even if it doesn’t have that pom-pom thing on top. It may be the only part of the local dialect I’ve actually adopted. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/93 "2019-01-18T17:07:15Z")
Ski hat. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/94 "2019-01-18T17:15:48Z")
My parents both grew up in West Virginia, and I adopted their usage as a kid: _toboggan_. I now live in California, and after many weird looks I’ve moved away from that. I usually call it a _ski cap_ now. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/95 "2019-01-18T20:13:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Toque or tuque. I’ve seen both spellings. > > I have never once heard of a watch cap. > > ETA: And toboggans are indeed sleds. [Watch Caps](https://www.heddels.com/2017/12/history-of-the-watch-cap-2/) are a specific type of toque . It may look the other way in the article but toques predate watch caps so :p. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/96 "2019-01-18T20:24:40Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > [Watch Caps](https://www.heddels.com/2017/12/history-of-the-watch-cap-2/) are a specific type of toque . It may look the other way in the article but toques predate watch caps so :p. $100 for a watch cap?? That’s insane! ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/97 "2019-01-18T20:48:41Z")
I’ve never heard the word “toque” in 57 years until this thread. I suppose it’s pronounced as one syllable? ETA: In Texas, we called them “tobaggans” when I was a kid, although it was known that this word was also used as a small sled. And in Texas, I never got to use a sled until I was an adult and had kids of my own. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/98 "2019-01-19T00:05:37Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > I’ve never heard the word “toque” in 57 years until this thread. I suppose it’s pronounced as one syllable? Yes. As posted up-thread, rhymes with “fluke”. I would never call a toque a hat. Hats, as all Canadians know, are made from beaver pelts, not wool. “Cap” is a bit of a stretch, since a toque doesn’t have a beak or a brim. “Ski hat”? Really? “Tobaggan”? Really really ?!? No, just no. You ride a toboggan, wearing a toque. Next thing you’ll be telling me is that baseball players in the summer wear bicycles on their heads. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/99 "2019-01-19T00:09:11Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I’ve heard the term “toque,” but only as used by Bob and Doug McKenzie, or people quoting them. Well, there’s your definitive answer. 😃 > [@](#): > > When I was a kid, “stocking caps” were knitted and reeeaaaally long, like four feet long. Then the seventies ended and we all wised up, and they got just big enough to fit your head. But they were still called stocking caps in my neighborhood. Those, too, are toques. Long toques, but toques. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901/100 "2019-01-19T00:12:28Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Honestly this sort of thing shouldn’t even be up for a vote. Next they’ll be trying to tell us that ‘hockey’ without qualification can sometimes mean field hockey instead of real hockey. Preach it, **Brother Gorsnak** , preach it! There are strange things done on the Wikipedia when the topic of hockey comes up. Something about English girls wearing skirts playing a game on grass in the summer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-knitted-winter-hat-what-do-you-call-it/827901.md?page=6)