apple davy?

[Robin Hamilton]

> Three substitutions are obvious:
>
>    Apple PIE => Apple Davie
>    Sugar STICK => Sugar rollie
>    Black BUN => Black man
>
> ... but Currant [????] => Currant Tam

Lor', just thought to look at my own earlier post:

    (1) *w.Dmf. 1920 J. L. Waugh Heroes in Homespun 108:
    I aye bakit, beforehaun, a girdle o' roon currant-scones, a trekkle bun,
an' an aipple-cake.

Therefore:

    aipple-cake =>  apple Davie
    trekkle bun => black man

... thus "currant Tam" is [derived from] "a roon [round] currant-scone".

Robin

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org