"Threads" is slang for clothing as well as the topic in a Forum. There are some funny and arcane words for clothes as well as differences in meaning across "the pond."

Small clothes (Colonial US and Brit) = underwear (US)

Knickers (UK) = underpants(US) (Why is it spelled with a "k"?)

What is a Tilly Hat? (You young guys should know.)

What is a "Leg O' Mutton" sleeve?

What is a "cod piece."

Was calico named for the cat, or the cat named for calico? If the latter, what did they call the cat before then? And what sex is it?

What is a "cod piece."

An archaic bit of men's clothing. Basically, a covering for the genitalia. Replaced, kind of, by the zipper / button fly.

Calico Cat (Wikipedia)

Cod Piece (Wikipedia)

I have to say that "threads" sounds pretty dated to me.

I've always liked the terms civvies and mufti.

We wouldn't say "small clothes" (at least I've never heard anyone say it) but "smalls" is fairly common.

Yes, I agree, Sean, that "threads" is dated to me, too.

I like "mufti," too, zmj.

quote:

Was calico named for the cat, or the cat named for calico? If the latter, what did they call the cat before then? And what sex is it?

No one has told me what gender the cat is.

Thanks for the interesting comments.

ZMJ - An average American might know what "civvies" are, but it is a rare bird who would know "mufti."

Men used to wear one-piece, long underwear called "Long Johns" here. Are such garments stillworn in cold climates? What are they called elsewhere?

long underwear

I've heard them called union suits, too.

I have known men's "smalls" - or, to be more precise, the "smalls" of English prep school boys - referred to as "crusties".
We will not elaborate...

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No one has told me what gender the cat is.

Calico cats are generally female. Sometimes, very rarely, you'll find a calico male, but those are usually sterile.

Here is my source.

Which came first, the cloth or the cat?

quote:

cal·i·co

–noun
1. a plain-woven cotton cloth printed with a figured pattern, usually on one side.
2. British. plain white cotton cloth.
3. an animal having a spotted or particolored coat.
4. Obsolete. a figured cotton cloth from India.

–adjective
5. made of calico.
6. resembling printed calico; spotted or mottled.


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[Origin: 1495–1505; short for Calico cloth, var. of Calicut cloth, named after city in India which orig. exported it]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

The OED Online says

quote:

a. orig. A general name for cotton cloth of all kinds imported from the East (see quot. 1753); ‘an Indian stuff made of cotton, sometimes stained with gay and beautiful colours’ (J.); subsequently, also, various cotton fabrics of European manufacture (sometimes also with linen warp).
b. Now, in England, applied chiefly to plain white unprinted cotton cloth, bleached or unbleached (called in Scotland and U.S. cotton).

c. in U.S. to printed cotton cloth, coarser than muslin.

Calico bush is a very pretty, very poisonus shrub. And here are other Calico terms.

Tinman

quote:

Originally posted by missann:
Men used to wear one-piece, long underwear called "Long Johns" here. Are such garments still worn in cold climates? What are they called elsewhere?

Yes, I wore them last week when the heat went out at my office (again.) I still call them "long Johns" or "long underwear." Ours are an antique pair of Duofolds, bright red, which my husband wore duck hunting, once, at the age of 16. They have been used throughout our marriage for 1.) extra warmth in winter by him, when covering winter sports, 2.) winter camping gear by son #1, 3.) a costume for son #2 --the top, at least--when he played the part of Judd in Oklahoma! at his school, 4.) and most recently, my extra insulation on no-furnace-days in Bomberger Hall. These things are 46 years old and still doing their job. Of course, I piled more stylish layers on top of this lovely outfit! I used to have a nice silk set of long underwear from LL Bean, but it wore out--so let's hear it for the Duofold Outlet in Ilion, New York.



Wordmatic

Aw heck, WM, I've been wearing long underwear all frickin' winter! Sorry for the language, but it has been a disaster of a winter in Chicago. We've had some sort of an ice storm tonight (it feels like half hail and half snow), and it took us an age to drive about 5 miles. I am ready for spring!

I haven't heard of "crusties," but, for what it's worth, here's what Wikipedia says about the word. I never know if I should trust Wiki or not.

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but it is a rare bird who would know "mufti."

Yes, I learned that word on this board. However, I was shocked when our receptionist mentioned the word one day. She was the same person who asked me what the OED was.

I haven't heard of "crusties," but, for what it's worth, here's what Wikipedia says about the word. I never know if I should trust Wiki or not.

FWIW, the Urban Dictionary adds a few other meanings to crusties. One of which seems closer to the offered synonym for underwear. The lesson to be learned from Wikipedia is that no authority is correct 100% of the time—pace Richard.

Kalleh, I know that my brother and brother-in-law, both of whom live in Upstate New York and have tons of snow right now, wear longjohns all winter long, too, to go out and shovel and plow snow, etc. Anytime you're likely to be caught out in the cold with the temp below 15F or so, you should have them on. My husband wears them to cover outdoor sports--like the football playoffs in Philly a couple of years ago when it was below zero and they had to be out on the field for the whole game with only a break at halftime.

WM

I, too, have long underwear, but it comes in two parts: an upper and a lower. The original question was whether the one piece union suit still exists, and it seems to.

Yep, the family heirloom Duofolds are two-piece. I seem to remember my father (1907-1989) owning a real union suit. Nobody in my family has had one, but the two piece variety, ever so much more convenient, yes.

WM

Although the purpose of my topic of Threads was to stimulate conversation about odd clothing names, I have been impressed with what you have revealed about underweaar, a hidden subject.

A spat (usually used in the plural, spats) is a cloth or leather gaiter covering the instep and ankle. Did they serve any purpose? They were part of military uniforms in WWI.

Though spats may have originated from puttees, they're a different item of clothing. The original Indian puttees were a long cloth wrapped around the lower leg and over the top of the boot or shoe. I've seen leather ones from WWI, that were like the top part of a riding boot.

Spats were very popular with the more affluent youth in the 1920s. See P G Wodehouse's Young men in Spats for a good idea of the lifestyle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Men_in_Spats

When I started work in London I knew a man called Sir Peregrine Henneker-Heaton (we all called him "Perry") and he dressed just as would the members of the Drones Club - although he'd have been in his 60s when I knew him. An absolutely wonderful man, wonderfully dressed - shoes from Lobbs, hats from Locks and wines from Berry Bros and Rudd.

And he always wore spats.

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A spat (usually used in the plural, spats) is a cloth or leather gaiter covering the instep and ankle. Did they serve any purpose? They were part of military uniforms in WWI.

I thought it was short for "spatterdash" and served to protect shoes from muddy water.

What about dickies, those collars with just a little bib of shirt front, meant to be worn under a sweater or jacket to make it appear as if you are wearing a shirt underneath?

Wordmatic

A dicky (or dickie) would probably be worn with evening dress (white tie) whereas a soft shirt would be worn with a dinner jacket (black tie).

As Richard indicates, you'd see a dickie with evening dress. Dress shirts are meant to be starched stiff and would be hideously uncomfortable to wear for any length of time. The dickie would be worn over an ordinary shirt to give the impression of a dress shirt; I don't think anyone would wear it without any shirt at all.

As this article points out, there is also a soft cloth dickie, usually with a turtleneck, that is not worn with formal dress. That's the one I think of when I read the word dickie.

Being Wikipedia it is, as one would expect, slightly American in style.

The soft-fronted dicky is not a British item and no more is a tuxedo. A "smoking" is a strange European term, never used in England. The expression "dinner jacket" (often abbreviated to DJ) means the whole outfit, not just the jacket.

Black tie is not the most formal evening wear; it is dinner wear. Evening dress comprises a white tie, starched shirt and black tail coat. A dicky would not usually be worn with a DJ - it would be worn with evening dress.

I speak, of course, of traditional standards, rarely adhered to these days except in the highest circles

The OED1 has some interesting definitions under dicky:

quote:

III. As a name of articles of clothing: cf. dick sb.2.

†4. An under pettycoat. Obs.

†5. A worn-out shirt.

6. A detached shirt-front.

7. A shirt collar. (New England.)

8. A covering worn to protect the dress or upper part of it during work, etc.; variously applied (according to time or place) to a. A leather apron or pinafore. b. A child's bib. c. A 'slop' or loose over-jacket of course linen coming down to the waist, worn by workmen in the north. d. An oil skin suit.

When I picture a dickie, it is not the high-class evening dress dickie that you describe, Richard. It is a starched-but-ratty looking one worn by W.C. Fields in some ancient movie, under his tweed jacket, and it is popping out at the sides looking ridiculous.

Back in the '70s, I think my husband had a couple of those turtleneck-type dickies to wear under crewneck sweaters, but I haven't seen one in years of any type.

Wordmatic

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It is a starched-but-ratty looking one worn by W.C. Fields in some ancient movie, under his tweed jacket, and it is popping out at the sides looking ridiculous.

Most things have been satirised or otherwise made fun of in media of all sorts. Think of Chalie Chaplin's bowler hat and cane - once a high-class combination (although usually a top hat and silver-topped stick).

What can often happen is that the parody can become more widely recognised than the reality.

Yes.

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I thought it was short for "spatterdash" and served to protect shoes from muddy water.

"There was no mention of "spatterdash" in my Webster's dictionary, but after your remark, I looked it up in my "Chambers Dictionary." Chambers agreed that spat is an abbreviation of spatterdash but doesn't define the latter. Thank you for the clarification.

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What about dickies,

When I was at boarding school - with nuns - we wore ugly green dresses that were seldom washed. We had detachable white collars called dickies, which we did wash. We were too naive to know of any double meaning!

When I started work in London it was very much the norm for clerical workers to wear stiff detachable collars. These were generally made from cotton and you would need to take them to the laundry to have them laundered and starched stiff.

Being shiny they didn't show the dirt so much (London was a pretty grubby place until the Clean Air Act prevented people from using coal fires). Plus, since the collar was the part that got dirtiest, one could simply change the collar and wear the shirt for days.

A cleaner environment and the move to home-washing put paid to the stiff collar, especially since it couldn't be starched properly at home. By the 1970s it was dying and I believe it has now gone completely.