Mufti? Daps? Tombola?? A guide to School vocabulary!

Whether you joined St Andrew’s from Yorkshire or Yemen… some of the words routinely used might be ones you’ve never come across before. Well, Friends PTA are here to help! Here are some commonly used words or phrases at school that you might not have heard before. If you have any other words you’ve come across, please let us know!

Daps
You might have come across this strange word on your child’s uniform list. A ‘dap’ is a type of athletic shoe worn when playing inside. It consists of a canvas upper and rubber sole and was originally designed as beachwear. It’s also sometimes called a plimsoll or sand shoe. No one is quite sure where the word Daps originated – it’s not even a word used across England! It’s known in other parts of the country as galoshes, gutties, rubbers or pumps. Some say the word dap comes from a factory sign – “Dunlop Athletic Plimsoles” or “DAP” for short. But there’s no evidence for this. So it’s no wonder an outsider to Somerset might be confused!

Mufti
Mufti is a word in Arabic meaning Islamic scholar. How it came to be associated with Non-Uniform day in schools in England is anyone’s guess! It seems to have started in the British colonial army where off-duty officers would wear local garb instead of uniform. One school in New Zealand has dropped the term because it’s considered cultural appropriation. At St Andrew’s, we are using “Mufti No Uniform Day” so that all parents – no matter what their background – understand what is meant.

Tombola
What you see:
“Please bring in a bag of sweets or a bottle of something to donate as prizes for the Tombola.”

What it means:
“Your PTA is holding a lottery to raise money for school. Please donate something: a bag of sweets, a bottle – either a drink children love, or a bottle of alcohol for adults. We will sell numbered tickets and winners will be chosen by picking those numbers from a hat/box/spinning drum etc.”

Where it comes from:
The British Empire probably. Tombolare is Italian for ‘tumble’ or ‘fall upside down’. It refers to a game from Naples that resembles Bingo but has come to mean a raffle or lottery in the UK and other former British colonies. To this day in India, high society Tombola events draw hundreds of families in their finest silk saris and suits to hear a caller shout out the winning numbers in colourful style: “Women get flirty… at four zero – 40!”