Yeah, that occurred to me, which is why I was specifically interested in knowing if it’s still available on the retail market. I wouldn’t mind paying three or four times what I’d pay for a roll of the aluminum stuff, but $84.99 for medical-grade tin foil is a bit out of my league.
Seven years ago, Exapno Mapcase was considering whether or not use/disuse of “tin foil” was a regionalism.
One more data point: even in 2017, even among young people, “tin foil” is the default term in the dialect around here (SE Louisiana). “Foil” is used as well, especially within kitchen/cooking contexts. “Aluminum foil” is understood locally and not thought of as incorrect – rather, it is thought of as stilted speech. Asking for the “aluminum foil” in conversation locally is akin to asking for the “adhesive bandages” or “cotton swabs” instead of the “Band-Aids” or “Q-Tips”.
In central IN where I grew up, we always just called it foil. I don’t remember hearing “Tinfoil” until I moved to south GA. Of course, they pronounce the L in salmon down here, too.
On searching my local Amazon.de, I’ve just discovered that you can still buy real metal tinsel. This brand, for example, is “nostalgic, original, real, heavy, quality tinsel, just like our grandparents loved”, made from “98% lead and 2% tin cladding”.
My Mom called it tin foil, but the only context I hear tin foil in, is in stuff like “tinfoil hat” or “that car crumpled like it was made of tin foil”.
Of course, tea chests ( which were squarish, about 18" x 18" x 2’ 6" and could be only half filled with books — they can still be had 2nd-hand for about £10 ) were not the only lead-lined boxes.
Apart from lining coffins — particularly for long journeys in the sun — there were actual lead coffins in Roman times; and I have come across references to corpses being rolled up in lead foil, like sausage rolls or Mongol carpets.
An undertaker on the web offers ‘Lead lining of coffin. £325’ for the stylish. And this firm has…
Flexmort’s CadSeal seals the deceased in a special metal containment film. CadSeal provides several benefits to those dealing with the deceased and is extensively used for repatriation as well as hygiene sealing. To see a video please see bottom of our home page (at about 2 mins 43 secs).
I passed on the video.
Now I wonder why it’s called foil.
Foil means to prevent or defeat. The detective foiled the plot to kill the mayor.
Somehow foil became known as a thin sheet of metal. Did the manufacturers just adopt the word and it got into our culture?
Etymology here. Its usage meaning thin sheet of metal goes back to the 14th century in English. It comes from a different root than your verb.
Thank you pulykamell
Another nagging question solved.
Environmental toxins … 
That’s because you don’t live in <insert suitable UK region here> 
And now I have Weird Al stuck in my head - which didn’t happen the first time this thread did the rounds 
Even though it’s an old thread, what about “tin cans”? And of course the Brits still have tins of things.
Here in Michigan it’s a can of beans when it’s full, but it might be just an empty tin can when it’s empty.
No perhaps about it. Tin has been the second major component of bronze since roughly the 3rd millenium B.C. (before that bronze was made with arsenic).
Dentist here. I believe the tin foil is currently used in lab work as a spacer for dies and models. At one time I believe it was used as filing material but not widely since the 19th century.
I’m from Michigan. Roughly 20 years ago I heard a chemistry teacher chastise a student for using “tin foil”, simply because it was not actually made out of tin any more. So clearly kids were picking up on “tin foil” but pedantic adults were very keen on making sure kids spoke correctly. (No, I was not that student.) I don’t think “tin foil” is used in this household, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my grandmother used it.
What about them? Calling something a tin can is an increasingly obsolete usage that has been declining continually since WWII, just about the same time that aluminum foil zoomed past tin foil in usage.
Tin cans usually aren’t tin these days. If you really want a tin can, most of the time these days you’ll end up with tin-coated steel. No matter what they are made out of, a lot of folks will still call them a tin can, at least around here.
Incidentally, there are two main methods I’ve seen to produce tin/aluminum/steel cans. The first way is to start with a flat sheet of metal, bend it around into a cylinder, weld or solder the joint, then attach the top and bottom. The second way is to start with a flat disk of metal and stamp it into a can shape, then keep stretching it to make it taller. With the first method, you can use a can opener on the bottom just as easily as the top. With the second method, you end up with a smooth corner on the bottom which prevents a can opener from easily being used on it.
Whatever metal they use, it’s often coated with something to prevent it from interacting with its contents, especially if those contents are acidic.
I hope that chemistry teacher got smacked down by some student the next time he used terms such as “clothes iron”, “dry cleaning”, “guinea pig”, “peanut”, and “jellyfish”.
Mythbusters did an episode where they made a floating “lead balloon” out of lead foil. So that’s clearly available in decent quantities. But of course the original posters to this thread would not have known about this episode.
That’s right! I forgot about the lead tinsel of my childhood. Thanks for the memories.
In a selection of written material, correct? Google Ngram data doesn’t suggest anything about spoken-word usage, I don’t believe.