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#2 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:15 am Tucked in or what? |
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To tuck a child into bed doesn't mean to make him go to sleep. It means that after you put the child into bed, you push the edges of the upper sheet and the blanket, under the mattress. This makes the covers taut and makes the child feel like he's securely in bed. Many children like this feeling, so they go to sleep faster if the covers are tucked in.
So you can't make a child tuck in; you tuck the covers in, thereby tucking the child in.
The use of "tuck in" for eating is something I've never heard, and I wouldn't understand it if you hadn't explained it to me. |
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Jamie (K) I'm a Communicator ;-)
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
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#4 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:53 am Tucked in or what? |
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Hi Torsten,
I know the expression 'tuck in' in both meanings. Here it would be an informal request to a guest who is eating at your table to start eating. It is often used when the guest seems reluctant to start eating and has to be encouraged: Come on tuck in! you say or even more direct: Dig in!
Oh how basic we are in the UK!
I suppose the 'connection' with the other use of 'tuck in' is that as you eat, you fold the food into your mouth. Oh that's even more basic. Sorry.
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story In touch |
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Alan Co-founder

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#5 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:03 am Tucked in or what? |
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. We use the expression 'Dig in' on this side of the pond, too. Like Jamie, if you said 'Tuck in' (in connection with eating) to me, I would not have understood what you were talking about.
It seems that 'Tuck in' with that meaning is only "basic" on certain isolated islands. . |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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#6 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:52 am Tucked in or what? |
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| Alan wrote: |
| I suppose the 'connection' with the other use of 'tuck in' is that as you eat, you fold the food into your mouth. Oh that's even more basic. Sorry. |
Maybe the original connection is that the person (in the old days, or in low society) was supposed to tuck his napkin into his shirt before he started to eat. |
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Jamie (K) I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 5332 Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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#7 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:56 am Tucked in or what? |
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Hi,
That sounds very plausible but I'm a bit worried about the 'low' society reference. Is that sort of 'tucking in' regarded as 'low' where you live?
Alan _________________ English as a Foreign Language You can read my EFL story Word Story: Weather |
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Alan Co-founder

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#8 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:57 am Tucked in or what? |
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I'd thought of that possibility too, Jamie. I'd also tried to imagine what I would have understood if someone had said "Tuck in" to me in the context of beginning a meal. I think my first reaction would have been to think that everyone was to 'tuck their chair in' a little closer to the table (i.e. tuck themselves in). . |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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#9 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:01 pm Tucked in or what? |
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I would have thought that members of the 'low society' weren't even able to afford napkins. _________________ Test Of English for International Communication TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
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Torsten Learning Coach

Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 10051 Location: EU
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#10 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:15 pm Tucked in or what? |
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. When I was a child, my mother taught me that the proper location of one's napkin during a meal was in one's lap. Tucking it into the collar area of your shirt would have been seen as bad manners. . |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

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#11 (permalink) Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:23 pm Tucked in or what? |
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| Me too, but people who think you should literally "dig in" would also be likely to expect you to tuck your napkin into your shirt. |
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Jamie (K) I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 5332 Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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#12 (permalink) Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:14 am Tuck-in |
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You folks must not get out much - the phrase tuck-in (to mean "eat up") is an EXTREMELY common term in England, Australia, Ireland, and parts of Canada.
It's no more "low" society that you're using phrases like "dig in", "chow down", or (wrt drink) "bottoms up". |
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Archangel New Member
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#13 (permalink) Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:17 am Tucked in or what? |
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Didn't Billy Bunter spend most of his time in the Tuck Shop.? LOL. _________________ If you need me, I'm here. |
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Kitosdad I'm a Communicator ;-)

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#14 (permalink) Sun Mar 08, 2009 15:11 pm Tucked in or what? |
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Why do we not ask a dictionary?
tuck (v.) c.1385, "to pull or gather up," earlier "to pluck, stretch" (1273, implied in tucker), probably from M.L.G. or M.Du. tucken "pull up, draw up, tug" (cognate with O.E. tucian "mistreat, torment," and related to O.E. togian "to pull," Ger. zucken; see tow). Sense of "thrust into a snug place" is first recorded 1587. Slang meaning "to consume, swallow" is recorded from 1784. The noun is first attested 1387. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=tuck+in&searchmode=none _________________ con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
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Milanya I'm here quite often ;-)

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