How did somersault become tumblesauce?

observer ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 12:15 am

What is known in the world as a somersault, for some reason, is known in some frum homes as a tumblesauce. How did that come about?

What do you call it? and what type of home did you grow up in (I'm guessing it's mostly in yeshivish and/or chassidish families)

spoons

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 12:19 am

lol, I think of this every time I say it. I say "tumblesauce" though I have no idea why! I'm not from a yeshivish OR chasidish home ('middle of road', Flatbush, NY)

mamacita

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 12:20 am

I thought my kids came up with this! Maybe they got it from school, weird.

↑ observer ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 12:20 am

Maybe its a NY thing??? My husband laughs every time he hears the word!

gila-rina

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 12:34 am

I always thought somersault was when one does the "tumblesauce" in the air, while plain tumble sauce is the floor type. Confused

teachby ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:20 am

This is so funny!! I also grew up calling it a somersault, and can't for the life of me figure out why my kids call it a tumblesauce. Not just a NY thing, by the way, as we are in LA. AFAIK it is only a frum thing, however, I'm pretty sure the non jews still call it a somersault.

To be technically correct, however, what our kids do (roll forward on the floor) is not a true, gymnastics somersault, which is a completely different animal. So, maybe it's correct that it should have a new name...

sequoia ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:25 am

Some people take gymnastics, in the course of which they do somersaults.

Or do no frum kids take gymnastics classes?

↑ teachby ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:30 am

Yes, I'm sure there are frum kids who take gymnastics and do real somersaults, but I don't think that's what we're talking about here.

ClaRivka

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:36 am

teachby wrote:

Yes, I'm sure there are frum kids who take gymnastics and do real somersaults, but I don't think that's what we're talking about here.

then what are we talking about here? a somersault is a somersault is a somersault.....

↑ teachby ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:42 am

google it, or watch a youtube video of real gymnasts doing an official "somersault". That's not the tumbling that our kids do.

↑ sequoia

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:42 am

Well, thanks to googling this word I found a great new blog to follow...

↑ teachby ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:51 am

sequoia wrote:

Well, thanks to googling this word I found a great new blog to follow...

???

Tamiri ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 2:53 am

I will be 49 years old soon. I grew up for my first 10 years in NY, most specifically Monsey. I know both words. Nothing new.

TzenaRena

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 5:16 am

so interesting. none of the on- line dictionaries have this word. that would suggest that it's unique to New Yorkers or frum people or whatever. tumblesauce was what I grew up with, somersault came from my literary vocabulary. Such an important study! Wink

Shuly

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 6:22 am

lol! We called it a tumblesauce and if you didn't flip forward, and instead ended up rolling to the side, it was called an apple sauce!!

Mommy F. ↓

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 7:42 am

I have always called it somersault here in Canada, especially since my kids and I took gymnastics as kids
that's what we call it.

I have only heard tumblesauce being used by yeshivish people.

Simple1

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 7:47 am

I grew up in Brooklyn and used to call it a tumblesauce because that's what my friends called it. But my mother who grew up on the West Coast insisted that we were wrong, that there is no such thing as tumblesauce and that it's called a somersault.

Chana Miriam S

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 7:53 am

I am also from canada and never heard this expression until this thread.

Amital

Tue, Aug 23 2011, 8:00 am

I had never heard the word tumblesauce before this thread. I was in team gymnastics until I graduated high school, and we did somersaults. My kids, who have gymnastic classes, do flips or somersaults. What an interesting word difference! Kind of reminds me of the frum yiddish translation of staying "by" someone, which confuses anyone not familiar with it!