When I was a kid, my granddad always hauled stuff around in a \u201ctoe sack\u201d \u2014 at least that\u2019s what he called it and I grew up thinking the proper name for a burlap bag was a toe sack. I think everybody around Maysville used the term \u201ctoe sack.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked the term up and dictionaries say that it basically a US regional<\/em> term that means a kind of burlap sack or a gunny sack. I found one example of the term being used in Lightning Bu<\/em>g by Donald Harington \u2014 it includes the following sentence: \u201cYou do not think it until he comes through the door, carrying the empty toe-sack in one hand and the revolver in the other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My extensive research kind of concluded that maybe what I heard as \u201ctoe sack\u201d was really \u201ctow sack.\u201d From what I can tell, a large sack made from loosely woven, coarse material is called by various names in different parts of the country. The most general term seems to be burlap bag, used pretty much everywhere, but especially in the Northeast. The preferred term in the Midwest and West appears to be gunnysack. The word gunny in gunnysack means \u201ccoarse heavy fabric made of jute or hemp.\u201d In the South, a burlap bag is often called a tow sack, and for some reason, in eastern North Carolina, the term is a tow bag. In South Carolina, and parts of Georgia, a burlap bag is known as a crocus sack and in the Gulf States, you\u2019ll hear croker sack. Crocus is a coarse, loosely woven material once worn by slaves and laborers \u2014 it was common in colonial New England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I haven\u2019t seen a burlap bag, or \u201ctoe sack\u201d like they had when I was a kid for a long time. Those bags, or sacks didn\u2019t have a handle and were large \u2014 usually to hold and transport potatoes, or grain or other agricultural products.\u00a0 When I was a kid, my granddad always hauled stuff around in a \u201ctoe sack\u201d \u2014 at least that\u2019s what he called it and I grew up thinking the proper name for a burlap bag was a toe sack. I … Continue reading
Tow is the leftovers from flax when the linen fibers are removed. It is very rough and doesn\u2019t spin well, but can be spun to make a coarse fiber that makes a burlap type fabric, and it\u2019s sometimes used to make ropes. Tow is usually a pale yellowish color. That may be why I remember that kids with blond hair were referred to as tow heads when I was growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess I can now add toe sacks, or whatever you call them to something else that dates me \u2014 sigh\u2026.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"