"Her summer dresses were made of that sort of feather-weight polyester which is what cotton is like when it goes to heaven." I also encountered two words new to me: "ascesis" and "noumenal" (not in the same sentence, may I add).

Is polyester noumenal cotton, then, or just the gossamer wings of dime store angels?

Polyester double-knits were big with 7th graders when I was one. I couldn't stand the stuff, but you couldn't get cotton. I remember how incredulous the salesman was when I insisted on it--to no avail.

BUT--there is one brand of thermal underwear made from the devil's thread that is wonderful: warm, wicks, and soft as a sailor's date.

Bridge 'dess 96 can tell us if it's true that when polyester burns it reduces to paraffin.