Tuque
Encyclopedia
Cap
A cap is a form of headgear. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head and have no brim or only a visor. They are typically designed for warmth and, when including a visor, blocking sunlight from the eyes...
, originally of wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
though now often of synthetic fiber
Synthetic fiber
Synthetic fibers are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. In general, synthetic fibers are created by forcing, usually through extrusion, fiber forming materials through holes into the air, forming a thread...
s, that is designed to provide warmth in winter. Most tuques are tapered; they sometimes have ear flaps, and may be topped with a pom-pom (this style of tuque is sometimes referred to as a bobble hat
Bobble hat
A Bobble hat or Bobble cap is a colloquial term for a knit beanie or tuque trimmed with a yarn "bobble" or pom-pom upon the crown. Bobble hats are generally considered utilitarian cold weather wear...
, boggan or sherpa). Tuques may have a folded brim, or none, and may be worn tightly fitting the head or loose on top although the latter is considered more standard.
History
The precursor to the modern tuque was a small, round, close-fitting hat, brimless or with a small brim. In the 12th and 13th centuries, women wore embroidered toques, made of velvet, satin, or taffeta, on top of their head-veils. In the late 16th century, brimless, black velvet toques were popular with men and women. Throughout the 19th century, women wore toques, often small, trimmed with fur, lace, bows, flowers, or leaves.Spellings
The word is etymologically related to the name of the chefChef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
's toque, an alternate spelling. Also occasionally spelled touque, although the latter is not considered a standard spelling by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary
Canadian Oxford Dictionary
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary is a dictionary of Canadian English. First published by Oxford University Press Canada in 1998, it quickly became the standard dictionary reference for Canadian English. Until September 2008, Oxford maintained a permanent staff of lexicographers in Canada, led by...
.
Style
In some sections of Canada a tuque with a brim on it, commonly worn by snowboarders, is nicknamed a bruque (a brimmed tuque). The tuque is similar to the Phrygian capPhrygian cap
The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In the western provinces of the Roman Empire it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty, perhaps through a confusion with the pileus,...
and, as such, during the 1837 Patriotes Rebellion
Lower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
a red tuque became a symbol of French-Canadian nationalism
Quebec nationalism
Quebec nationalism is a nationalist movement in the Canadian province of Quebec .-1534–1774:Canada was first a french colony. Jacques Cartier claimed it for France in 1534, and permanent French settlement began in 1608. It was part of New France, which constituted all French colonies in North America...
. The symbol was revived briefly by the Front de libération du Québec
Front de libération du Québec
The Front de libération du Québec was a left-wing Quebecois nationalist and Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group in Quebec, Canada. It was active between 1963 and 1970, and was regarded as a terrorist organization for its violent methods of action...
in the 1960s. It is considered outerwear and is not commonly worn indoors.
Popularity
Tuques are indispensable in cold climates, and are worn worldwide in various forms. They have become the common headgear for stereotypical dockworkers and sailors in movies and television. The most famous media characters to sport this kind of hat are the SCTVSecond City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
characters Bob and Doug McKenzie
Bob and Doug McKenzie
Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted "Great White North", a sketch which was introduced on SCTV for the show's third season when it moved to CBC Television in 1980. Bob is played by Rick Moranis and Doug is played by Dave Thomas...
. Michael Nesmith
Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name...
of The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
also wore this hat in his television series, as did Jay
Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Smith, which began in Clerks....
in the films of the View Askewniverse
View Askewniverse
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media,...
, Robert Clothier
Robert Clothier
Robert Allan Clothier was a prominent Canadian stage and television actor most famous for his role on the long-running CBC television show, The Beachcombers...
's character "Relic" in the long-running Canadian TV series The Beachcombers
The Beachcombers
The Beachcombers is a Canadian comedy-drama television series that ran from October 1, 1972 to December 12, 1990 and is the longest-running dramatic series ever made for English-language Canadian television...
, and Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
's character Loopy de Loop
Loopy De Loop
Loopy De Loop was the only theatrical cartoon short series produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera after leaving MGM and opening their new Hanna-Barbera Studios...
wore a tuque as well. Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
wore this type of hat in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is an American comedy-drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Wes Anderson. It is Anderson's fourth feature length film, released in the U.S. on December 25, 2004...
, possibly as a parody of the tuque worn by Jacques Cousteau. Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
also had worn one in his role of coureur des bois
Coureur des bois
A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian woodsman who traveled in New France and the interior of North America. They travelled in the woods to trade various things for fur....
in the epic TV series Centennial
Centennial (miniseries)
Centennial is a 12-episode American television miniseriesthat aired on NBC from October 1978 to February 1979. It was based on the novel of the same name by James A. Michener. The miniseries was produced by John Wilder....
. Bruce Weitz
Bruce Weitz
Bruce Peter Weitz is an American actor. He is perhaps best-known for his role as Sgt. Michael "Mick" Belker in the 1980s TV series Hill Street Blues for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1984.-Early life:Weitz was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, the son...
's character Mick Belker wore this hat throughout almost every episode of Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
. The guitarist for the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
band U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
, is also known for wearing a tuque while performing, or during interviews. Characters in animated series "South Park," including Eric Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
, Stan Marsh
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
and Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
, usually wear tuques. Jayne Cobb from the TV series Firefly
Firefly (TV series)
Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....
wore an orange sherpa knitted and sent him by his mother in "The Message". Canadian Daniel Powter
Daniel Powter
Daniel Richard Powter is a Canadian recording artist. He is known for his hit "Bad Day", which spent five weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. Powter became the only act to register the #1 hit of the year but chart no other Hot 100 hit.- Life and career :Powter grew up in Vernon, in the...
also wore a blue tuque during the music video for "Bad Day
Bad day
Bad Day may refer to:* Bad Day , a viral Internet video* "Bad Day" , a 2005 episode of the animated TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* Bad Day -Songs:...
." Tuques are also worn commonly by hiphop artists. A town in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
is known as La Tuque
La Tuque, Quebec
La Tuque is a city in south central Quebec, Canada, on the Saint-Maurice River, between Trois-Rivières and Chambord. In 2006, it had a population of 11,821 Latuquois....
, named after a nearby hill that resembles a tuque. Masao Inaba from Revelations: Persona wears one. The character Compo on the British TV show Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine
Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
is almost always seen wearing a tuque.
One of the more notable wearers of the tuque was Jacques Plante
Jacques Plante
Joseph Jacques Omer Plante was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During a career lasting from 1947–1975, he was considered to be one of the most important innovators in hockey...
, the famed Hall of Fame goalkeeper for the Montreal Canadiens throughout the 1950s. During the 2003 Heritage Classic game (which was played temperatures below -15 degrees Celsius), another Canadiens goaltender, José Théodore
José Théodore
José Théodore is a French Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League...
, wore a tuque on top of his goalie mask.
Other names
In other parts of the English-speaking worldEnglish-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
, this type of hat is more commonly referred to by other names: knit hat or knit cap, sock cap or stocking cap, watch cap, skull cap or skully, snow hat, snow cap, ski cap, tossle cap, woolly hat, chook or beanie. In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the UK, the term beanie
Beanie
A beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap with or without a visor that was once popular among school boys.-Description:In the United States of America, beanies are made by triangular sections of cloth joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides.They can also be made from...
refers almost exclusively to the knitted hat with a little propeller on top. Conversely, In Canada the word beanie
Beanie
A beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap with or without a visor that was once popular among school boys.-Description:In the United States of America, beanies are made by triangular sections of cloth joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides.They can also be made from...
is used to denote a more rigid cap that is not knitted
Knitting
Knitting is a method by which thread or yarn may be turned into cloth or other fine crafts. Knitted fabric consists of consecutive rows of loops, called stitches. As each row progresses, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can...
but rather made up of joined panels of felt
Felt
Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing woollen fibres. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size....
, twill
Twill
Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs . This is done by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a "step" or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this...
or other tightly woven cloth. In the United States South and Midwest, especially Appalachia, it is often called a "toboggan".