Tom Tidler's Ground

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Tom Tidler's Ground, also called Tom Tiddler's Ground or Tommy Tiddler's Ground, is an ancient children's game in which one player, "Tom Tidler," stands on a heap of stones, gravel, etc.; other players rush on the heap, crying "Here I am on Tom Tidler's ground," while Tom tries to capture the invaders or keep them off. By extension, the phrase has come to mean the ground or tenement of a sluggard, or of one who is easily taken advantage of. The essence of the game lives on in such more modern games as Steal the Bacon and other variants of Tag.

"Tom Tiddler's Ground" is the name of an 1861 short story by Charles Dickens, and the phrase "Tom Tidler's ground" appears in his Nicholas Nickleby. "Tom Tiddler's Ground" is also the title of a 1931 poem and of a 1931 anthology of children's poetry edited by Walter de la Mare. Tom Tiddler's Ground is a 1934 novel by Edward Shanks, and a song on the 1970 album Flat Baroque And Berserk by Roy Harper.

Tom Tiddler's Ground is also used in modern English as a euphemism for being on shakey ground for example 'I aksed her why her performance review was late and I could tell she was on Tom Tiddler's Ground'.