DCHP-2

Timbits timbits, TimBits, tim bits DCHP-2 (November 2016)

• 1 n. pl. — proprietary, Food

  a brand name for a ball-shaped confection sold at Tim Hortons in various flavours; a doughnut hole (see Image 1).

  Type: 1. Origin — Tim Horton, a former Canadian NHL hockey player, opened the first Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut shop (then spelt with an apostrophe "Tim Horton's") in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario. After achieving early success, the company began to expand its menu, releasing the now-famous, bite-sized Timbits in 1976 (see Tim Hortons reference, "About Us").
  Timbits have been adopted as a symbol of Canadian culture and identity comparable to major symbols such as the beaver and the maple leaf (Joyce and Thompson 2006: 232-233). When compared with another term for the confection, "doughnut holes", Timbits proves far more common in Canada (compare index in Chart 1 with combined indexes in Charts 2 and 3). Charts 2 and 3 also reveal that "donut" is the preferred Canadian spelling, not "doughnut".

  See also: double-double  dutchie  bismarck  jambuster  

• 2 n. — Sports, Hockey

  a sports division for children between four and eight years old; the players within this division.

  Type: 3. Semantic Change — Timbits is the name of the minor league sports division sponsored by Tim Hortons in both Canada and the United States. Officially titled the "Timbits Minor Sports Program", the goal of the initiative is to promote team camaraderie and fun while learning new sports (see Tim Hortons reference, "Local Programs"). The types of sports currently (in 2014) include hockey, soccer, lacrosse, t-ball, baseball and ringette.
  The popularity of the program has led to widespread recognition. This, in combination with the size of Timbit donut holes compared to regular donuts, has resulted in the semantic expansion of Timbits to refer to the young athletes themselves (see, for example, the 2006 and 2014 quotations). From there the occasional semantic extension to mean 'children' has been anecdotally attested in speech, but so far we have not found it in writing. Timbits is also most frequent in Canada in sports contexts (see Chart 4).

  • Timbits in this sense is often used attributively, particularly in conjunction with "team" or the name of a specific sport (i.e. Timbits hockey).