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#14523 01/03/2001 2:37 PM
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In a private conversation, Jo mentioned donning a jumper– and I realized, of course that she was putting on what I would call a pull over sweater–. Since to me a jumper is a open necked, sleeveless, deep arm holed dress. More commonly worn by young girls, you might occasional find a nice one, in wool, with a matching jacket, being worn by a business woman. In all cases, you would wear something under a jumper–

When I was in elementary school, we wore blue wool jumpers, with deep scoop necks, and white blouses with peter pan collars. And it got me thinking...

Here is a list of clothing, read through the list– I am sure there a things I missed. It is more heavily loaded with american terms– forgive me
add to it or
pick a few to "define"–

As I constructed the list– I thought, oh every one will know and agree on this– and then thought again, and realize some of these things might not be known to jazz or nemo or xara– and they might add some things that I will see and say what?

But once defined, oh– I call it an X, not a Y..(and if they where my children, they would roll their eyes, and say–you are so totally outdated!– but here its safe!) And some like jumper, knicker, flannels, suspenders– I know have very different meanings depending on location.

anorak
ascot
bandana
bermudas's
braces
bubuska
caftan
cape
cardigan
cat suit
clam diggers
cover all's
culottes
dress
dresser
eton jacket
flannels
floods
frock
galoshes
garters
gator's
jerkin
jersey
jumpsuit
kerchief
knee highs
knickers
long johns
mac
mocs
models coat
monkey suit
mu-mu
mukluk
muscle shirt
nehru jacket
panties
parka
pea coat
pinafore
pinny
plus fours
pullover
romper
sarong
serape
shawl
shirtwaist
shrug
ski jacket
skort
slicker
smock
stockings
stocks
sun suit
suspenders
sweats
trainers
trousers
union suits
vest
wellies
whites
wrapper
most of this is outer clothing–but there is no reason to leave it at that– when I was 13 or so, boys the same age would tease about "an over the shoulder boulder holder". Is that a local mocking term– or did young boys everywhere tease young girls with the same term?


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Well being male I can only discern five kinds of garment in total... no wait a minute, shoes are different from socks, aren't they? Six then.

To me:-

jumper (what I say) = pullover = sweater = guernsey = jersey;

pants = panties = knickers, but also pants = trousers;

anorak = parka;

vest = singlet (I say both indifferently), but also aware that vest = waistcoat;

suspenders = braces, but also suspenders = the antique stud-on-elastic thing that attached stockings to some kind of female undergarment and that I don't know another synonym for;

cape = cloak;

off-the-shoulder boulder-holder = gownless evening-strap

and about half the words on your list are unidentifiable to me (ascot, bubuska, cat suit, clam digger, dresser, floods, gators, jump suit, knee highs, models coat, monkey suit, mukluk, muscle shirt, pea coat, romper, serape, shirtwaist, shrug, slicker, stocks, sun suit, sweats, union suits, whites, wrapper).

And if that seems to cut down the possibilities a bit, I have to confess I'm sitting here in a lap-lap and woad.


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I noticed a few that were not on your list.

bloomers is what my Grandmother wore instead of underwear. My dad wears (says) bloomers also, but only if he's trying to embarrass one of the kids in front of our friends.

boxers are underwear for men and pajamas for women.

a poncho is a big square cloth with a hole in the middle for your head. my mom is the only person I know who LOVES ponchos.

you mentioned flannels. are they pajamas? I have flannel pajamas. I also have a type of shirt made of flannel that I simply refer to as a flannel.

is a hadnkerchief the same a s a kerchief? Seems as if I remember hearing kerchief in old movies. I was never sure exactly what they meant. my dictionary says a kerchief is a head covering, but also says it is a syn. for handkerchief. my dad used to carry a handkerchief for blowing his nose. (maybe he had sinus problems? i don't think he does now.) I think ladies might carry a handkerchief if they were expecting to be crying, so that they have something to dry their eyes.

a petticoat and a slip are similar items. the slip is worn under a dress or skirt to keep it from clinging to your legs. a petticoat is fuller to make the dress stand out more. When i was younger i square danced and clogged. we wore petticoats under our dresses. we also wore pettipants which were ruffled undergarments somewhere between shorts and underpants which are meant to be seen when you twirl around and your skirt flies out.

>>>every one will know and agree on this- and then thought again, and realize some of these things might not be known to jazz or nemo or xara<<<

quite right. there are many of your words which I haven't the foggiest idea what they might mean.


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How about slacks? Strikes me as the kind of word that might not translate well to other Anglophone nations.

Are clam diggers pants that only go to above the ankle? If so, we always used to call them high-waters (because in a flood you'd keep your pants dry...).


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High waters would be floods to me
(What is there a flood? = why are your pants/trousers so short?)

Clam diggers came to just below the knee-- but the same idea-- you could walk into the water (and hunt for clams) with out getting hems of pants wet..


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off-the-shoulder-boulder-holder
I would have thought this was the garment called, in German, stopsemfromfloppin


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Xara said
In reply to:

a petticoat and a slip are similar items. the slip is worn under a dress or skirt to keep it from clinging to your legs. a petticoat is fuller to make the dress stand out more.


Yes, slips are so passe they need to be defined! women of a "certain age" still wear them.. but would call a petticoat a fancy under skirt-- really meant to be seen (as you indicated), but would if i wanted the skirt of a dress or outfit to stand out (look fuller) i think i would want a crinoline. this is a full/flouncey slip that had netting to make a skirt billow out-- and was horrible itchy--every woman hated them-- and little girls even more so! and a proper young lady would blush if hers was seen!


#14530 01/03/2001 10:12 PM
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yes-- you got the idea-
> in German, stopsemfromfloppin

I almost missed it--I though at first you where doing serious german!

Oh we are all in for some wet noodle lashing when Jackie gets back from the big city! with any luck, she'll be exhausted, shake her head, and let it all pass...


#14531 01/03/2001 10:36 PM
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In reply to:

when I was 13 or so, boys the same age would tease about "an over the shoulder boulder holder". Is that a local mocking term– or did young boys everywhere tease young girls with the same term?


I happened to be living in New Zealand between the ages of 11 and 13, and the boys who plagued my existence way down there used exactly the same phrase, even though "boulder" was rather hyperbolic at the time (and, sadly, still is)



#14532 01/04/2001 2:04 AM
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Zild, huh? And you are now living in the Uttermost West (and perhaps even the Undying Lands which means you are not of Numenor). Makes a change from the Uttermost East, I guess. Very informative, Nemo. Where (not in Middle-Earth) is the place you call Tol Eressea?



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#14533 01/04/2001 2:42 AM
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In reply to:

Very informative, Nemo. Where (not in Middle-Earth) is the place you call Tol Eressea?


You're absolutely right, Capital Kiwi, Eressëa is not in Middle Earth, and hasn't been since the Valar sought Illuvatar's aid in defeating Melkor. As to your other question, do you really think that a lady who lists her email address as nemo@nirgenmdswo.nunca is likely to answer that? Perhaps I am the reincarnation of Greta Garbo, or perhaps, like her, I just vant to be ...


#14534 01/04/2001 7:13 AM
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Hmmm. From your email address, it's Never Land. I'm assuming that Tol Eressea = Never Land and you're therefore Peter Pan in drag. Speaking, um, Swedish?

They say that Garbo tried out for the part of Galadriel in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, but they turned her down because she was dead and wanted a closed coffin as well as a closed set ...

I hope the witness protection programme works for you!




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#14535 01/04/2001 10:44 AM
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Helen

Good list. Some more for you (including some obvious ones?)

Gown
Jockeys
Shorts
Sou'wester
Spats
Sweater

And just so we get the originals right:

mac = Mackintosh

wellies = Wellingtons = gumboots

As some of the others have said, some of the words are completely new to me - and I've love to discover the definitions or usages.

And yes, in Bombay it was common (in boy circles) to refer to bras as 'over the shoulder boulder holders', though we wouldn't mention it to girls (get our faces slapped and out mothers called, that would).

cheer

the sunshine warrior


#14536 01/04/2001 11:29 AM
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cuirass, greave, codpiece, wimple, liripipe, bascinet, camail, tabard, ruff...

toga, himation, peplon, fillet, garland...

loincloth, penis sheath...

tarboosh, fez, stetson, akubra, propeller beanie...

wig, lion costume, diving bell...


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Shanks! shame on you! Your jockey shorts are obvious! This side of the pond civilized people tend to wear pants or trousers, or chinos, or cords, or something over them!

And which ones don't you know? since i am not sure if all the definiation would be the same..

ie, i always thought a mukluk was outer where-- variation an a parka, ski jacket, anorak-- but my M-W 10th says it s a boot or shoe ! (NYTimes Crossword last week had clue of "Kind of Parka-- and mukluk was the answer-- so i am not alone in thinking it a jacket type garment...)


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Ahhh... mukluks!
I remember receiving a pair for Christmas in the mid sixties. They were heavy woolen slippers with leather soles. A sort of sock/slipper hybrid. I always assumed the origin was from the Inuit, or as we called them back in the day, good ol' Eskimoes!


#14539 01/04/2001 1:56 PM
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Well, a quick look through the only Inuktitut dictionary I can find on the Web fails to reveal mukluk. On the other hand, it fails to mention anorak, parka, kayak, and igloo too. I do learn that a man's sealskin parka is nattiq and a man's caribou parka is qulittaq. FWIW.


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Well M-W10th says seal skin outer boots, worn over several pairs of socks--

but yes, when i was a kid, they did have these socks, with a leather sole.. (fake leather, and you could wash the whole deal) called mukluks....

what do you think of for the single word
flannels-- ?


#14541 01/05/2001 11:48 AM
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Of Troy asked...
what do you think of for the single word
flannels-- ?
_____________________________________________

Definitely a form of trouser - usually in charcoal grey.

As for your 'jumper', I think that's probably what we wore to school as 'pinafores', and would be positively indecent without something underneath!

Another good word is 'frock' - quite commonly used amongst some of my friends, but I tried writing it in an assignment recently and my lecturer scrawled 'outdated' alongside it. Personally though, I rather like it.


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rkay said: As for your 'jumper', I think that's probably what we wore to school as 'pinafores', and would be positively indecent without something underneath!

Interesting. As a fellow Londoner (and erstwhile marketing bod too), a 'jumper' has always seemed to me to be similar to a pullover. I did notice it being used for what I might call 'dungarees' in the US, but hadn't realised that this was somewhat similar to the UK meaning as well.

the sunshine (way behind the times?) warrior


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eeek! Confusion! Sorry!

Shanks, ref: jumper, I'm with you all the way - it's what we would also call a sweater or pullover.

What I meant is that I think Of Troy's use of 'jumper' is what we would call a 'pinafore'. It's not a meaning that I've ever heard of in the UK.


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Jumpers is usually used to describe the one-piece, straight, navy-blue dresses that little girls put over a blouse to go to school, however, we also use it to describe that one-piece garment that little babies wear.

It looks exactly like a pyjama with a zipper down the front with the leg parts closed at the bottom in the shape of feet. It is made of day time material and colours to distinguish from pyjamas.

One item that has a great quantity of names is the flic-flacs...those soft rubber/plastic floppy sandles that cost next to nothing.




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Franky Francophone commented: One item that has a great quantity of names is the flic-flacs...those soft rubber/plastic floppy sandles that cost next to nothing.

Which are called "jandals" in Zild (a brand name, from memory) and "thongs" in Australia. "Thongs" is one of those words which has three meanings depending on how you use it. Singular use means g-string or laced leather vest pull-strings. Plural means "flip flops", "flic-flacs" or "jandals" (or a someone who wears two g-strings at once, I guess!).

If asked to guess, I would have thought "flic-flacs" were anti-aircraft guns used to cull policemen ...



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jumper....that one-piece garment that little babies wear.
___________________________________

Interesting - I've never heard them called 'jumpers'. In my family we've always called them babygro(w)'s.


#14547 01/05/2001 7:04 PM
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years ago when I suffered from athletes' foot, my doctor told me to wear jandals as much as possible, to allow sunlight and air to help cure this fungal disease. I also decided to spend a good deal of the summer at the beach. By the end of summer, I had gone through two pairs of jandals without any significant improvement to my feet.

Ted goes away whistling, "The thong is ended, but the malady lingers on."



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#14548 01/05/2001 8:09 PM
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TEd, I continue to marvel at the compassion shown by those around you ...



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#14549 01/05/2001 9:52 PM
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Oooo, on a more positive foot note ...do any ladies remember bobby-socks?

That is what my mom used to call those cute little socks that, when folded onto themselves for about two inches, rose just slightly over your ankles. They were white, fresh and crisp of course.

The name stuck with me and I still call them that.


#14550 01/06/2001 5:22 AM
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Locally (Northern Virginia), our crew used to call 'em flip-flops and thongs. Military kids (from God knows where) called 'em zorries. Haven't heard that term since.


#14551 01/06/2001 4:09 PM
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>TEd, I continue to marvel at the compassion shown by those around you ...

Yeah, the people in this place are pretty nice. They usually take my gag off to allow me to eat, but the straitjacket stays on except for my two hours of exercize time. You should see me eat with that thing on. Most people around here frequently say things like, "When it comes to eating, you have to hand it to Ted."



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They usually take my gag off to allow me to eat, but the straitjacket stays on except for my two hours of exercize time.

And how do you type while wearing a straitjacket?


#14553 01/06/2001 4:43 PM
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>And how do you type while wearing a straitjacket?


It's just a jacket, not an overcoat!!



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#14554 01/07/2001 12:51 AM
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One item that has a great quantity of names is the flic-flacs...those soft rubber/plastic floppy sandles that cost next to nothing

Also known as flip-flops, surfer sandals or, in Hawaii called slippers pronounced slippahs. wow


#14555 01/07/2001 12:59 AM
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Military kids (from God knows where) called 'em zorries. Haven't heard that term since.
They were probably stationed in Japan!
Zori is the Japanese for the sandal.
(At least that is what my Japanese neighbor and friend told me when we lived next door to each other in Hawaii.)
Sometimes people call them Tabis but tabi are the fabric, ankle-height "socks" with big toe covering separate from the other toes. That's so the thong of the zori slips in. When you remove the Zori upon entering a house, your feet are still covered by tabi.
In Japan tabi can be plain black or white or any other fabric. Some QUITE expensive.
wow


#14556 01/07/2001 2:02 AM
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Thanks, wow.
As I recall, most of the military kids I knew had spent some time in the Far East.
Zori makes perfect sense now.


#14557 01/07/2001 2:48 AM
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>And how do you type while wearing a straitjacket?
It's just a jacket, not an overcoat!!


TED!!! I suppose the saying from Jo's contest list would be appropriate here (the one I can't say, that is).

But I still say, you're entitled to boast all you want--
thong ended but malady lingered on! Oh, ha, ha!

And--flannels are long underwear: one-piece. Though
certain slacks are called that, also.
Bel--you're too young to have worn bobby-socks!
shanks--dungarees are what blue jeans used to be called.
Bob--I love your squirmin' German!
nemo--not to worry about a lack of "boulders", my dear.
The true you will be known and loved, no matter the
packaging.







#14558 01/07/2001 3:43 AM
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Jackie sympathises: nemo--not to worry about a lack of "boulders", my dear.
The true you will be known and loved, no matter the
packaging.


... or the lack can be corrected by the application of silicone (sic) science, of course ...



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#14559 01/07/2001 5:43 AM
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In reply to:

... or the lack can be corrected by the application of silicone (sic) science, of course ...


I'm sure the thought was well-intentioned, Capital Kiwi, but I'd rather not indulge in surgical self-mutilation to conform to an artificial, phallocentric perception of female beauty and the importance thereof.


#14560 01/07/2001 8:22 AM
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Nemo, I have no expectations as all my illusions have long since been shattered on the rock of harsh reality.

Personally, I completely fail to conform to the female concept of male beauty and have absolutely no intention (or ability, for that matter) to correct the lack. I stopped worrying about it around about age 20.

I merely point out possible solutions. Plus have a bit of fun with a word at the same time ...



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#14561 01/07/2001 12:10 PM
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I can remember wearing a garment called a "liberty bodice" when I was a little fella in Britain during the early/mid-forties. Anyone shed some light on this?


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a "liberty bodice" when I was a little fella in Britain during the early/mid-forties.

Welcome back, Dearest! Could it have been a vest that somehow supported the WWII effort? Perhaps it had a picture on it, or was made of some alternative material so the "real" stuff could go to the soldiers?


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