A twee British 4 year old came into a cafe I worked at 10 years ago and asked for a “tinny snail”. He meant a pain aux raisins and I’ve wondered since then if British children/people sometimes call sultanas “tinnies” (tana = tinny, or something). In the US we don’t use the word sultana as much as golden raisin, and they’re not all that culturally prevalent anyway. Thanks for the insight!
13 comments
Sounds like Australian slang to me
Never heard of that one.
It could possibly be a regional thing, but I’ve never encountered it.
They probably meant tiny as in raisins look like tiny snails to a child.
A tinny up here is a can of lager which fits in with the age.
Might have just meant the pain aux raisin looked like a small snail. And sometimes they just say words.
My kid is almost 4 and will still mispronounce some words, or call things by more cutesy names that he gave them when he was 2-3 (that are unique to him). He still calls a backpack a pack-pack and a picnic a mick-mick.
This kid could have been trying to say “tiny snail” even.
I wouldn’t read too much into the names/pronunciations of 4yo’s beyond that.
Edit – just to add, “tinny” is British slang for a beer – as in a (tin) can of beer.
4 year olds make up a lot of words or are easily misunderstood. I’ve never heard it as a sultana.
Never heard that. Probably just the ramblings of a 4 year old. My nephew used to ask for his chooter when he was 4, he meant scooter.
As people have said tinny is slang for a can of beer
I can only imagine he meant tiny
No. But 4 year olds have their own weird language and ways of describing things.
TBH, I would be more worried it a toddler used the term *”Pain aux Raisin”* at that age.
“Tinny” is the sound I hear 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
He was just saying a tiny snail. Pain aux raisins do look like snails. They’re not commonly called snails but it should be pretty obvious what snail means in context, it’s just that tiny being pronounced tinny caught you out. I think some Scots people sorta say tinny for tiny.