Nicky tams are described in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) as “a pair of straps, or a piece of string in lieu, tied by farmworkers over the trousers-legs immediately below the knee to keep the legs clear of the soil and dust, etc, blowing up or relieve the weight of mud at the ankles”.
The earliest example in DSL is taken from Elsie S Rae’s Private John McPherson and other War Poems (1917): “An’ Geordie, ma foreman, a dacenter lad Ne’er wore nickietoms, nor plooed up a fleed [The land at the end of the furrows in a ridge on which the plough turns, the end-rig]”.
The Statistical Account from East Lothian in 1953 gives the following information: “It was characteristic of the ploughman to secure his trousers round his legs immediately below the knees by a narrow buckled strap or thong. These attachments were known in this part of the country as nickie tams or bow yanks”.
In 1998, we have the following from Ian Cameron’s The Jimmy Shand Story: “… proudly brushed down his new moleskin trousers, making sure they had their own knee strings to make nicky-tams”.
The term is still remembered in the 21st century, but requires explanation, as this memory recalled in the Daily Record of July 2021 attests: “He would always be wearing nicky tams – working trousers tied at the knee with cord – and tackety boots. The sparks would be fair flying off the road when he tramped down to the Cross Keys”.
Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.
