Posts Tagged: fashion

  • It all started with the manbag, the man-purse in the 1960s. It was the first of the mancessories. (male accessory)

    Mancessories for the new man

    It all started with the manbag, the man purse in the 1960s. It was the first mancessory (male accessory) that crossed over from the female fashion world and created a new word and a new market. And now the marketers have a new male demographic firmly in their sights. The prime segment of the demographic […]

  • Goth woman on some neo-gothic steps

    Roman revenge and gothic revival

    An introduction to the goths Being gothic seems to be a common thing. We have gothic and neo-gothic architecture; gothic fonts; gothic literature and even in my youth a Goth post-punk music sub-culture. I lived in London in the mid to late 1980s. I was persuaded to go out one Friday night, straight after work […]

  • Jockstrap ad.

    Bicycling “mamils” and fossils

    I was listening to talkback radio recently. The topic was the New Zealand café owner who has recently banned middle-aged male cyclists from his café because he was concerned that his patrons found the wearing of bike shorts offensive. While nearly everyone recognised that the issue was not an important one, it did generate quite a discussion […]

  • Rose-Coloured-Doggles Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Jason Brace, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Wolverine Public Affairs

    Seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses

    Are rose-coloured glasses a good thing? There is some debate about whether seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses or rose-tinted-spectacles is a bad thing or a good thing. I suspect the divide would also follow those who think a glass is half empty as opposed to those who think it is half full. That is, the […]

  • Young ladies in their knickers

    Knickers, bloomers and drawers

    I love the British word, knickers, for ladies underpants. It has a gentle naughtiness without being vulgar. In Britain it has surpassed all its rivals: smalls, briefs, panties, bloomers and completely replaced its predecessor, drawers. In Australia we tend to talk about pants or panties (as does the US) although knickers is gaining some ground. […]

  • Tim Entwisle (WOTW man) getting spruced up for a meeting

    Getting spruced up

    I need to get spruced up when I go to visit my clients. I put on a suit and a tie for the city offices but don’t get quite so spruced up for the more hands-on firms. Being spruced up is a common expression for dressing something up cleanly and neatly. Its meaning comes to […]

  • Dolce & Gabbana describe actress Monica Bellucci, who models their lipstick collection as having: … famed fulsome lips, impeccable complexion and daring, expressive eyes.

    The meaning of fulsome is not abundantly clear

    If there is a word in the English language to avoid at all costs it is fulsome. Not because it is modern (it is quite the opposite) or informal (it is not that) but because it is one of a few words that has flipped its original meaning on its head. Fulsome is even more […]

  • Ambrose Burnside the origin of sideburns

    Burnside’s whiskers

    About Ambrose Everett Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (23 May 1824–13 September 1881) was a Union Army general in the American Civil War. He was successful in his early campaigns but the forces he commanded were heavily defeated at the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of the Crater. He earned from these defeats the reputation […]

  • The bogan with a mullet

    Living east of Boganville?

    We love the word bogan. We use it to describe those uncouth people that live next door. No longer are we restricted by geography to call the uneducated, unrefined people, westies (if you live in Sydney, for instance)—our vulgar neighbours can now come from the east, the north or the south. The word bogan has […]

  • Coster monger Mumbai

    Word monger of the week

    Monger evolved from the Old English word mangere, which meant a dealer or trader. As time went by, it started to take on an overtone of being petty and disreputable and became used more often in a derogatory sense. It has had a very keen usage in this insulting sense for five hundred years. New usages are invented in all ages. A very recent one is ecomonger.

  • Brazilians with flag of Brazil

    BRAZILIAN from Pele to Posh

    Word meanings change. A few years ago if I mentioned a Brazilian to you – images of Carmen Miranda, Pele or Ronaldinho might have come to mind. Nowadays, it is quite different. It once meant: of, or relating to, or characteristic of, Brazil or the people of Brazil. (Brazil is a Portuguese word for a particular tree from which […]

  • Chavs—chav car, chevrolet and screen shot from Charver Central

    There is nothing average about CHAVs

    The term ‘chav’ gained much popularity in England and spawned several websites. I was reminded of it by a story in the Sydney Morning Herald (1). It is a derogatory, slang term for a cultural stereotype; a condescending reference to the English underclass. The stereotype is characterised by fashions such as tracksuits worn with imitation designer clothing (often Burberry, an up-market fashion […]