# Tin foil: Commonly used term, but was there ever such a consumer product? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 26, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059 "2009-01-26T15:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/21 "2009-01-26T22:01:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Never, even when you were a kid? Or just lately? When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s in New York City “tin foil” was pretty much the default term, even though it was actually aluminum foil. My mother still calls it that. Don’t remember it even as a kid. As far back as I can remember we used Reynolds Wrap and called it aluminum foil. I tried Googling to see if it’s a known regionalism but didn’t turn up anything. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/22 "2009-01-26T22:35:53Z")
Tin or lead foil (or foil made of an alloy of the two) was used to line wooden tea crates from around the 18th century onwards (so, probably including those at the Boston Tea Party). [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=58894#s6](http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=58894#s6) This must have persisted into quite recent times - because I remember seeing a tin-lined tea crate in the 1970s or so (can’t have been lead any more, by that time) - it wasn’t a particularly old one, but I remember being interested in the thin, very malleable metal foil lining. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/23 "2009-01-26T22:44:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Where do you live, out of curiosity? Because I’ve never heard anyone in the U.S. say tin foil in any context outside of tin foil hat or the equivalent. And I’m more than twice your age. I live in the Detroit area. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/24 "2009-01-26T22:47:55Z")
We pretty much use aluminum foil and tin foil interchangeably here in SE Michigan. Or even just “foil.” I certainly hear older people use it more than the younger people, but its use is not viewed as any type of anachronism. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/25 "2009-01-26T23:45:57Z")
I’ve never heard it called anything but tin foil, except in commercials. And I’m probably older than any of you. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/26 "2009-01-26T23:58:05Z")
We always called it “tin foil,” which may be a function of my parents ages (born 1921, 1924). Or maybe it’s from all the tin cans—which really were tin. Remember punching triangular holes into soda cans, before pop top aluminum cans came along? It wasn’t until high school chem class that I learned we’d been brushing our teeth with tin…stannous fluoride, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/27 "2009-01-27T00:00:19Z")
My wife, who grew up in Connecticut, never heard anything other than aluminum foil either. Interesting pattern for a regionalism. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/28 "2009-01-27T04:37:23Z")
I grew up calling it tin foil. California. 29 years old. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/29 "2009-01-27T04:46:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Interesting pattern for a regionalism. Or, not. In both NH and MA people of all ages use the terms interchangably too. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/30 "2009-01-27T05:19:46Z")
Well, that’s why I’m calling it interesting. Usually New England states have more or less similar terms and so does the midwest, which begins in western New York. For Connecticut to not use tinfoil and other NE states to do so is odd. For western New York not to do so but Michigan yes is also odd. And putting the two together is even odder. Of course, we’re dealing with a too tiny number of data points to have any meaningful larger patterns emerge. The T edition of the Dictionary of American Regional English isn’t out yet, but it’ll be interesting to check when it does. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/31 "2009-01-27T11:43:01Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Tin foil is still the most common term for it in this country in my experience. ‘Tin foil’ is not uncommon in the UK as well, although I think most people would call it ‘silver foil’ - in reference to its colour rather than to what it’s made of. ‘Aluminium foil’ is hardly ever heard and ‘aluminum foil’ is heard not at all… OB ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/32 "2009-01-27T12:06:50Z")
I hear tin foil and aluminum foil used. I see a reason to use tin foil over aluminum foil and not changing it. Saying tin foil is easier when your in a hurry and concentrating on cooking, when somebody needs the aluminum foil. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/33 "2009-01-27T13:02:20Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > This must have persisted into quite recent times - because I remember seeing a tin-lined tea crate in the 1970s or so (can’t have been lead any more, by that time) - it wasn’t a particularly old one, but I remember being interested in the thin, very malleable metal foil lining. Dad has an old tea crate in his garage, I wonder if the remnants of foil are tin. Something to check when I get back home. ---
**Author:** ![Butterscotch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Butterscotch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Butterscotch)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/34 "2009-01-27T13:17:41Z")
I hail from the UK and we’ve always called it tin foil, although ‘silver foil’ sounds familiar. I think my Gran might have called it that. We call the other food wrapping material ‘cling film’, because that is what it is and what it does… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/35 "2009-01-27T14:04:53Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > So am I but “tin foil” is about the only term we’ve ever used. > > Useless trivia: _How It’s Made_ had a section on [del]tin[/del] aluminum foil recently. The rollers used to flatten it can only get it down to twice the thickness required so for the last pass they double it, running two sheets through and, thus, squeeze it down to the requisite thickness. Because of this the sides look different. The side facing the other sheet have the flat finish while those next to the rollers remain brighter, retain their shine. Interesting. So how come it doesn’t stick together or get mushed into one sheet? BTW: UK, usually call it tin foil or Bacofoil (which is the most common brand). My gran used to call it silver foil or silver paper - the latter, I think, referred to the type of wrapping you used to get on chocolate biscuits, which was actually paper coated on one side with a thin layer of metal foil. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/36 "2009-01-27T14:55:53Z")
> [@Butterscotch](#): > > We call the other food wrapping material ‘cling film’, because that is what it is and what it does… I wish… I use the phrases interchangeably, but probably use tin foil more. (Southerner of the Florida/Georgia/Kentucky variety) ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/37 "2009-01-27T15:01:44Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Well, that’s why I’m calling it interesting. Usually New England states have more or less similar terms and so does the midwest, which begins in western New York. For Connecticut to not use tinfoil and other NE states to do so is odd. For western New York not to do so but Michigan yes is also odd. And putting the two together is even odder. Well… the Midwest really can be further subdivided into smaller regions that will have strong differences (liguistically, culturally,etc.). The Great Lakes region of the Midwest will have a lot of differences compared to, say, Kansas. I’ve run into this here a lot, where someone says, “well, in the Midwest, it’s blahblah” and I think, “Not in THIS area of the Midwest, it’s not!” ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/38 "2009-01-27T15:35:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Don’t remember it even as a kid. As far back as I can remember we used Reynolds Wrap and called it aluminum foil. > > I tried Googling to see if it’s a known regionalism but didn’t turn up anything. Just to throw in another data point, I’ve always called it tin foil and heard the same. I grew up in the DC Metro area and am thirty three. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/39 "2009-01-27T18:56:36Z")
It’s quite common to hear people calling it ‘silver foil’ here in my part of the UK - (because that’s what colour it is - I don’t suppose anyone imagines it is made from silver) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059/40 "2009-01-27T19:03:48Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Interesting. So how come it doesn’t stick together or get mushed into one sheet? I wasn’t paying close enough attention to catch that if they said but my guess would be that it’s done at a low enough temperature, probably just normal ambient. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-foil-commonly-used-term-but-was-there-ever-such-a-consumer-product/483059.md?page=3)