Is Calling Someone a “Clothes Horse” an Insult?

Hello, you have A Way with Words. Good morning. This is Eleni Wagner and I’m from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

Welcome, Eleni. What can we do for you? Well, I have a friend who refers to me as being a clothes horse. And where I grew up, that was not a compliment. She means it as a compliment. And where she grew up, it meant somebody who could wear clothes well or dressed well. Where I grew up, if you referred to someone as being a clothes horse, it was not exactly derogatory, but it was like, well, they spend a lot of money on clothes. They’re kind of obsessed about clothing all the time. And my friend is from Pennsylvania, and I’m from Wisconsin, so I don’t know if that’s part of the difference.

Did you take great offense when she said that, or was it just a little subtle thing? Well, it was kind of like one of those little jabs, you know? I’m like, oh, wait a minute. So I finally said something, and she said, well, I mean that as a compliment. Where I come from, that’s a compliment. And I’m like, so I always, every time she does that, I kind of take a deep breath, and it’s like, okay. She means that you wear the clothes well, that you look nice, and you wear nice clothes, right? Right. Yeah, you’re stylish.

I’ve seen it as positive, but by far and away it’s usually negative. Throughout the history of the figurative use of clothes horse, it’s almost always poking fun at somebody for spending too much time and money on their appearance. Well, and that’s how I always took it. Yeah. But we do find off and on throughout history it’s kind of neutral because there are circles of people where spending a lot of time and money on your appearance is a good thing. It is the way that you were meant to present yourself to the world, particularly for women. There’s parts of our culture where even now, that’s the thing that you do. You spend money on clothes, and maybe they wouldn’t see clothes horses derogatory. It just meant that you look nice, you dress nice. They hang nicely upon your frame.

And you know what a clothes horse is, right, originally? No, I don’t. Oh, okay. This is a drying rack for clothes. This is kind of a frame, a frame that you, you know, you wash your clothes by hand perhaps, and then you hang them on the frame so that there are no creases or knobs or bumps in the wrong places, so they dry flat or dry straight.

Was it in the shape of a horse, and that’s how that came about, or what? Roughly. It’s got four legs. It’s kind of like a sawhorse. You know, it’s got four legs and roughly like a backbone or a spine, and there are a variety of different shapes for these, but generally they sit on the ground on four legs. Yeah, it sort of has that same function as a horse when you think about draping a blanket over a horse. Very good, yeah. You know, our word easel has the same idea in it. It comes from a Dutch word that means donkey. Oh, easel. Because it bears the weight of the painting.

Okay. Yeah, I’ve always had a sense of clothes horses being a little bit, just like you put a little bit too much emphasis on clothing. You know, it’s not just wearing your clothes. It’s showing them off. Okay. Well, like I say, every time she says that, I’m like, okay, she means it as a compliment. Because I don’t think of myself that way. Yeah, but it sounds like she was using it admiringly. So if she’s a true friend and not a frenemy, take her word for it and just accept it as a compliment. Yes. And I’m working on that.

Eleni, thank you for your call. We really appreciate it. Oh, thank you so much. All right. Take care. Have a great day. Thanks for calling. Bye. Bye-bye. Bye. 877-929-9673.