When a jacket’s been on the hanger too long, the shoulders get punched out, meaning they become distended. The same principle is behind the term butt-sprung, which describes a skirt that’s distended by the wearer, and now applies to anything that’s worn out. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Butt-Sprung”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Jeff, and I am calling from the south branch of the Aisabo River in Michigan.
Oh, really? On the river itself?
We just got off the river from fly fishing, and we are in our campsite now eating spam, tomatoes, and corn.
Didn’t catch anything, huh?
We released them. They were huge.
Oh, I see.
You wouldn’t believe it.
Yeah, trophy fish, right? Long as your arm?
Exactly.
Nice.
Well, Jeff, what would you like to talk with us about?
There’s a phrase that my mother uses, and I used it in a piece of fiction, and my editor circled it and said, what is this?
And the word is punched out.
My mom, if you put a suit coat on, she would look at it and say, well, you can’t wear that. It’s all punched out.
And what I came to figure out what that meant is it sat on the hanger too long, and the shoulders got punched out, I guess, from the weight of being on the hanger.
And I liked the phrase.
I thought it was an interesting phrase to describe a piece of clothing, but apparently my editor didn’t and never had heard of it.
And so I was curious if that has any history beyond my mother.
Whoa, a punched-out shirt or a punched-out coat?
Just punched out clothes, just describing clothes as punched out.
From what I can get, it doesn’t necessarily mean old as far as the way she used it.
It seemed more the way it sat on the hanger.
Well, I can certainly picture it.
I think the expression is self-explanatory.
I’m not familiar with any kind of history of it.
It sort of reminds me of the term that’s more common in the African-American community, butt sprung.
Have you heard that one?
I have.
What context does that use?
Yeah, butt sprung refers to clothing particularly around the hips that is shaped by the wearer.
It still retains the shape of the person who had it on.
So it’s got a bum shape inside that skirt is what you’re saying.
Yeah, it’s altered. The shape is altered.
And then by extension, it means you can get home tired and butt sprung or that couch is butt sprung.
So it’s taking the shape of a derriere.
Yeah.
But the punched out, yeah, I know the look as well, but I don’t know the term.
It’s when you put a too small hanger on a coat, right?
And so the corners of the hanger maybe poke through where they shouldn’t.
Or you can kind of see the shape of the corners.
Yeah, you can see where they’re almost like, I don’t know, like little talons or something coming up on a devil there.
Yeah, devil horns, that’s right.
Instead of the big, fat, rounded corner.
I liked the phrase, and I liked the play of the words, but…
Did your editor keep it?
I like it, too.
The editor insisted that I change it.
Oh, yeah.
I would disagree with your editor there.
Was it fiction or nonfiction?
It was fiction.
Oh, well, then fiction probably should have been a little easier to keep it.
I’m surprised that they changed it.
Yeah.
Yeah, it just really felt that nobody would understand it.
Solipsist?
I don’t know.
Like you say, it’s self-explanatory, but again, I don’t know if it automatically makes people think of a hanger to a coat.
But in any case, I just thought it was interesting, and I thought, oh, I guess that phrase is not used maybe very much beyond my family, but I was just curious about if it had any history, if it had appeared anywhere else.
Not that we know of Jeff, but it works for us.
All right.
Thank you, sir.
All right.
Good luck with the fishing.
Oh, thanks a lot.
You have a great show.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
