Spot the Frippet: tile.

Here's an easy one. Tiles are everywhere.

Picture by Vera Kratochvil

Well, not actually everywhere, but quite probably on the roof above your head and the floor beneath your feet - and if you're in a bathroom or kitchen, quite probably on the walls, as well.

Then there are tiles on mirror balls and in mosaics and mah jong:

picture: Shurikane

 

And if all those options fail you because you are in the middle of the jungle or at the South Pole or in Outer Space or something then a tile in Britain is a hat, as in the lines from the old song Any Old Iron:

Dressed in style,
Brand new tile,
With your father's old green tie on. 

 

Apparently a short bit of pipe that fits together with others to make a drain is called a tile, too. But we're not going to have to bother with anything so boring today.

Are we?

Spot the Frippet: tile. This word comes from the Old English tīgele, from the Latin tēgula. Tile meaning hat is a London term, but it isn't rhyming slang - they're just both things that get put on top.