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Originally posted by rob love
My use of the English language is, perhaps, not quite as refined as those accross the big pond so I had to look up "pratt".
All I found was " prat: n Slang. the rump or backside; buttocks".
Is this the correct interpretation for the name on the tin?
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Ah, now this is a job for The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th Edition, Revised 2001; a lumpy reference tome of some 1708 pages and 2¼" thick, which would be 57.15mm for the metricated people; such is the exhaustive compaction of information therein that my reading glasses are demanded.
Page 1124, column 1, tells us:
prat. n. informal 1 Brit. an incompetent or stupid person. 2 a persons buttocks. - Origin C16: of unknown origin.
I can tell you no English nationals of the WASP lineage use or understand the definition 2 above and it has come as a surprise to me, however, it is possible that since the 16th century the understanding of "persons buttocks" has become "arse" and from there with the more recent "hole" added would make a similar understanding to 1 above.
Your best on-line reference for our vast armoury of quintessential British slang is here:
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/index.htm
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I'm willing to bet the tin will be turned the other way around for the next series of photos.
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But very, very short odds I think.
R.