In a novel I was reading yesterday I found the following: "He wore an English bespoke suit." The OED says that bespoken has a meaning of "ordered". Do I assume correctly that bespoke suit mean one that is tailored as opposed to off-the-rack?

Yep, you got it in one. I bespeak my suits from a tailor in Singapore - cheaper and generally better quality than off-the-peg here in New Zealand and several miles cheaper than bespoke tailors here.

I like this citation, from Punch:
A ‘Special Collection’ which is, in harsh reality, a collection of bargain bespokes.

Hi TEd,

I notice my English brethren and sistren (?) have deigned not to post on this one, probably because your question appeared to have been answered.

But I have to throw in that I've hardly ever heard of bespoke suits, even if I know what they are. You can get tailored suits, and that's it. I admit to the possibility that I may not be moving in the right circles.

However, we talk about bespoke software (meaning customised rather than shrink-wrapped), and I think I've heard talk of bespoke cars as an alternate term for kit cars - where you order in the bits you want and assemble a unique heap of junk that costs you a fortune.

Fisk

Oh yes Happy New Year everyone.

After a marathon period of piscine pedalling away from here, Shona returned with I notice my English brethren and sistren (?)

Can any of our phine philologists tell me if English ever had a word like the German Geschwister? I've always thought that it was particularly handy, not to mention that its close connexion with schwester over bruder intrigued me from an herstorical perspective.

Shona wishes us "Happy New Year everyone"

Thank you and the same to you.

To you all ... Happy New Year, Jan. 23, 4699
From my pal who is heavily into Chinese culture, comes the following for your interest: 4966, the year of the metal yin Snake. Yin means receptive, interior, female.
Snake compass point is South/SouthEast
Snake time of the day is 9 to 11 a.m.
Snake season is Spring to Summer.
Snake is inherently fire. Fire melts metal thus a controlling cycle governs this year.
In other cultures the years are :
Islamic 1421
Christian 2001
Hindu 2056,
Chinese 4699
Jewish 5761.
The Snake is a highly spiritual symbol, a symbol of renewal and rebirth and, some say, the soul of the dragon. Women born in Snake years are considered the most beautiful... a great compliment in Asian cultures is to say "You are a veritable Snake of a woman."
Guess who was born in the year of the Snake !
wow

isn't it amazing how millions and millions of people born in the same year will all have the same characteristics?

In other cultures the years are :
Islamic 1421
Christian 2001
Hindu 2056,
Chinese 4699
Jewish 5761.

Did the Chinese or Jewish cultures run into any problems with the Y2K bug a few thousand years ago, or did they find some way around it?

Thank you for that, wow. I am a snake, too, and hadn't quite figured it was my year again (I'm a late-blooming-boomer-kinda-serpent).

(I just KNEW we had something in common!)

Tsuwm, read my lips:

Happy RoshaShona, to you, too, Fisk.

ASp>Tsuwm, read my lips...

c'mon, snakes don't got lips!
::rimshot::

>isn't it amazing how millions and millions of people born in the same year will all have the same characteristics?

Yes, speaking as a pisces (a star sign that I share with more or less one twelfth of the world's population), I find that rather strange.

I went off the idea of Chinese year designations when I found out that I was a rat. I'm not fond of rats.

I am a dragon lady! (best sign!-- powerful, and successful, all sorts of other good traits-- somehow i missed out!)

but lets not forget that Australia day is coming up soon -- Friday Jan. 26th-- so Ozzies what it about? something akin to US 4th of July-- only you didn't have to fight a war? Do the Zilds have a day too?
(for some reason, most Autralian, and NZ holiday's are on US calendars-- (i guess for sales there too, but not English holidays)

PS. Jo the rat is a good sign-- a sign of prosperity and wealth! and remember all those good rat expressions?

Troy tossed the apple of dischord by asking Do the Zilds have a day too?

Indeed, NZ does have a national day - Waitangi Day, February 6. It commemorates the day when Representatives of the British Crown, and many leading leading Maori chuiefs signed The Treaty of Waitangi, in which, at least according to the English language version, the Maori ceded sovereignty of their lands to The Crown, in exchange for retention of certain traditional rights. The Treaty has been the cause of much debate in recent decades, and Waitangi Day is a day of Maori prrotest, white conservative Maori-bashing and white liberal hand-wringing, while scholars argue over the exact meaning of "rangatiratanga" - the word used in The Treaty for "sovereignty."