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#25196 03/29/01 11:33 PM
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A man's his purse, but who says leather's not romantic?


#25197 03/30/01 10:31 AM
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stuffed shirt - I feel a side thread coming on about clothes used to describe people.

Obviously blue collar, white collar. Any others? (wet blanket - stretching the category slightly)

In UK we have the expression "big girl's blouse" as in "That new striker (in the soccer team) is nothing but a big girl's blouse!" meaning a useless wimp.


Rod Ward

#25198 03/30/01 12:27 PM
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Mark Twain wrote a really funny parody of Victorian verbiage which I found in a compilation of his more salacious works titled "Letters from the Earth." It gave all the elaborate forms of the address to be used when asking permission to rescue a person from a fire. So, even at the time, some people realized the extreme nature of this stuff.

That said, it's amazing how much time you have to spend on things when there's no tv, and it's a certain kind of luxury to have such an abundance of words.

If a pompous man is a stuffed shirt, what is the female counterpart?

That's really an interesting question. I can't think of any counterpart, though not for lack of need. In the NYC art world, I've heard the imperious, cooly beautiful women who sit at the front desks at art galleries described as "vestial virgins." Of course, they might be men, also. Another clothing word that comes close, but is a little off the mark is "straight-laced." (Odd coincidence that the masculine refers to plumping the torso, and the feminine to cinching it...)


#25199 03/30/01 12:42 PM
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and blue stocking of course


#25200 03/30/01 01:27 PM
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If a pompous man is a stuffed shirt, what is the female counterpart?

A stuffed shirt.

This is Binky, wishing you a pleasant from the rings of Saturn, signing off.

#25201 03/30/01 04:05 PM
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The fields of bookkeeping and accounting have shifted in recent years from predominately male to predominately female, and are now known as "pink collar" occupations.


Still, GO GREEN! [Must post one Spartan-related message a day, until they are done.]


#25202 03/30/01 04:20 PM
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In reply to:

another clothing word ... is 'straight-laced'



Actually, it isn't. You have fallen into a homophone trap. The word is "strait-laced".
There is also "strait-jacket" with similar meaning, often misspelled 'straight-jacket."


#25203 03/30/01 09:38 PM
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You have fallen into a homophone trap. The word is "strait-laced".
There is also "strait-jacket" with similar meaning, often misspelled 'straight-jacket."


No kidding! But of course. So I guess strait-laced isn't a suitable feminine of "stuffed shirt" at all. Leaving us in dire straits.......


#25204 03/30/01 09:43 PM
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how about "wears the pants [in the family]"

also "dressed to kill", though that describes more of a temporary condition than a true personality trait.


#25205 03/31/01 04:35 AM
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> I imagine something like the following going through the minds of the writers whilst they were composing these epistles:

I thought this was brilliant.


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