Elainey from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, says her friend called her a clothes horse. Her friend meant it as a compliment, but Elainey has always understood the expression to be a dig that implies someone is too preoccupied with their appearance? This...
Kevin in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, disagrees with his wife over the question: At what point do clothes become laundry? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “When Do Clothes Become Laundry?” Hello, you have A Way with Words...
Why are pants, trousers, shorts, and jeans plural in English? Rob in Barnstable, Massachusetts, asks about garments that are now usually one piece, unlike socks. The plural goes back to older two-legged garments made as separate pieces fastened at...
A Lakeland, Florida, woman wonders about the use of the term floodin’ or flooding to describe someone wearing pants that are too short, as in, “He’s floodin.'” There are many terms for such ill-fitting pants, including flash...
The word vintage, from the Latin word vinum “wine,” originally applied to the yield of vineyard during a specific season or a particular place. Over time, vintage came to be applied to automobiles and eventually to clothing. The term...
A New York City caller wonders why we refer to clothing as duds. The term dates back to the 1300s, when the word dudde referred to a cloak or mantle of coarse cloth. Over time, it came to refer to shabby clothing and eventually acquired a more...
