Here in the Truth North, Strong and Free, a toboggan is used on snow to slide down a hill or other slope for winter fun. Unlike a sled or sleigh, a toboggan has no runners but rides directly on the snow.
Apparently, further south, in the Land of the Free, a toboggan is something you wear, as in: “[She was] dressed in a toboggan, scarf and flannel-like jacket” (Associated Press).
Dressing in a toboggan was not something I had known about until today. However, here in the True North, Strong and Free, we would refer to such a knit hat as a toque (or tuque), which is apparently another unique Canadian term.
The wisdom of the masses at Wikipedia helped to clear up my confusion while admitting that “it is extremely confusing when people refer to a seasonal hat with the name of a specific winter sled” (Toboggan-Wikipedia).
I guess it is no surprise that those living in a land of long winters would come up with a few unique terms for items associated with the season.
Yes we just finished using it on Grandpa's hillLove Victoria and now we are making pancakes
The comment regarding words in a language having a correlation with the land and weather is certainly true. I think that most people know this intuitively in the least, but I’m always surprised at the extent in which it manifests itself.
While I was still trying to learn some Gaelic, I was surprised to find that there were nearly 40 different words for “hill”. Big, small, bare, grassy, inland or near the shore, each combination had its own name. I think that the Inuit have a large number of words for snow, probably following a similar pattern.
The highly nomadic culture of the Australian Aboriginals has influenced a language which forces its speakers to “conjugate” verbs with regards to how the action is facing with respect to north (maybe south, they might have well chosen a different cardinal system).