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#72230 06/10/02 07:28 PM
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Sixty years ago, an important item for car lovers was a chamois to wipe away water drops after washing car. I haven't seen one for a very long time. I'll bet that few members have ever seen one, or know how it is pronounce, or where original material came from.


#72231 06/10/02 07:34 PM
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#72232 06/10/02 08:24 PM
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Dear SilkMuse: My dictionary says original was an Alpine goat antelope. I guess it is French.
I doubt that many were imported, and that the ones my dad owned were also sheep.
I have no idea how they were processed to make them so soft and absorbent. I think I
have seen vests made of it. Imagine a shimmy in a chamois chemise.


#72233 06/10/02 08:24 PM
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Dear Dr bill, its a shame you are housebound, (and i bet, bereft of a drivers liceince too, ) i actually go into automotive stores, (i need to buy flares, i use my supply, and hadn't replenished it.
Chamois, (shammy, soft as silk, silken muse,) are still sold. but upscale folks like me, find in 15 minutes, the car/wash detailer, will wash, wax, buff, vacuum and stuff for $10-- and i can just sit back and read, or make calls, or sometimes, sit in a nice cubby they have, and pay bills! why would i get wet, and have have buy car wash detergents, and wax and wheel cleaner, and spend an hour?

the sheep name is (sha moi) (moi, just as Ms Piggy says it!) some sort of wild mountain sheep right?


#72234 06/10/02 08:40 PM
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Dear Dr. Bill,

Yep, I knew it was pronounced "shammy," but I just thought it was some kind of sheep's skin.

I think it would get pretty hot doing a shimmy in a chamois.

Best regards,
WW


#72235 06/10/02 10:56 PM
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Hi Dr. Bill! We have his and hers chamois (chamoises?)! We wash the cars together on the weekend and each dry a side...goes pretty fast with both of us doing it. Gotta get it dry before the sun does its thing with our hard water here. Actually, my hubby just found a new trick for the leaf blower and blows alot of the water off the car before we chamois (it is a verb too, isn't it?) it.


#72236 06/10/02 11:59 PM
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...his and hers chamois (chamoises?)

Now if you took a couple of old shirts or blouses to use for rags, couldn't you call them "chemises," pronounced "shim-mees'", that's French for blouses and be using approximately the same word?


#72237 06/11/02 12:35 AM
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Approximately the same word, yes, but the stress is different, especially at the outset of shimmies. I mean, from the get-go you've gotta put a lot of muscle power behind the shoulders to get 'em rollin' in a proper (or improper) series of shimmies. That's why the stress is on shimmies right away, first syllable. Now "chemises"...that's altogether different stress-wise. A more relaxed, soft kind of word, chemises is not stressed till its end, like the cloth itself wearing out after one too many shimmies.


#72238 06/11/02 05:35 AM
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Alpine goat antelope
Chamois (Rupicapra Rupicapra) are quite abundant in Switzerland and other alpine countries of Europe. They are something of a tourist attraction, because they are able to climb steep rocky slopes. Their crooked horns are appreciated as trophies by hunters.


#72239 06/11/02 08:55 AM
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Just so's you know, chamois are known down this end of the planet, and by young'uns and all... altho I doubt that the chamois my dad used to use haad ever actually seen a sheep... did do a lovely shimmy to bring up the shine, however.

alexis


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