Tom Tiddler's Ground (annotated) - Paperback

by Charles Dickens (Author)

Tom Tidler's Ground, also known as Tom Tiddler's Ground or Tommy Tiddler's Ground, is an ancient children's game in which one player, "Tom Tidler," stands on a heap of stones, gravel, etc.; other players rush onto the heap, crying "Here I am on Tom Tidler's ground," while Tom tries to capture the invaders or keep them off.[clarify] By extension, the phrase has come to mean the ground or tenement of a sluggard, or of one who is easily taken advantage of. The essence of the game lives on in such more modern games as Steal the Bacon and variants of Tag. "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is the name of an 1861 short story[1] by Charles Dickens, and the phrase "Tom Tidler's ground" appears in his novels Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield and Dombey and Son. "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is also the title of a 1931 poem and a 1931 anthology of children's poetry edited by Walter de la Mare. Tom Tiddler's Ground is a 1934 novel by Edward Shanks. "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is a song on the 1970 album Flat Baroque and Berserk by Roy Harper. E.F Benson also mentions "Tom Tiddler's Ground" in The Worshipful Lucia. Tom Tiddler's Ground is also used in modern English as a euphemism for having an uncertain status, for example, "I asked her why her performance review was late and I could tell she was on Tom Tiddler's Ground". "And why Tom Tiddler's ground?" said the Traveller. "Because he scatters halfpence to Tramps and such-like," returned the Landlord, "and of course they pick 'em up. And this being done on his own land (which it IS his own land, you observe, and were his family's before him), why it is but regarding the halfpence as gold and silver, and turning the ownership of the property a bit round your finger, and there you have the name of the children's game complete.