There never was a safe area of any kind in tag games I would play. Everywhere you went, you were fair game.

Same here

Edit: Oh oh oh oh, scratch that, after checking the Wikipedia link I do remember we played a variant where you can't be it when off the ground. We called it "height" though.

This is all very fascinating. I wish I had a larger pool so I could map the evolution of the term geographically. It would appear, though, that using T to refer to a "safe zone" is an Ontarian construction.

We called it T.O. or simply T

In my experience, T.O. usually referred to the creation of an impromptu safe zone, e.g. when someone was tying their shoe, but I've heard it used to refer to the official location. Glad to hear I'm not alone, though.

My brothers and I have always called it 'base'.

I played without a safezone.

Times.