Those soft felt hats that folks like the guy on the Quaker oatmeal box wear? They’re called wide-awakes. The etymology of this term is actually a pun–a reference to the fact that they’re made out of smooth material that has no nap! This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Wide-Awake Hats”
Grant, here’s a linguistic mystery that came to us from Sam Moore from Salem, Ohio.
He writes, my wife was reading a Conan Doyle book and it described a man as, quote, wearing a gray suit and carrying a brown wide awake. I looked it up and found that a wide awake is a soft, low-crowned, wide-brimmed hat, also known as a Quaker hat.
But why is it called a wide awake?
A wide awake.
Yeah.
And if you want to picture this hat, picture the guy in the Quaker oatmeal box. You know how his hat looks? Kind of floppy?
Is it floppy?
Or is it firm?
It’s kind of firm.
And it’s got kind of a flat top and a brim. But the key here, it’s really, really smooth. And therefore, it doesn’t have a nap.
It doesn’t have a nap, so it’s a wide-awake hat. That’s really the origin.
Are you sure?
Yes, that’s it.
I was imagining that it had something to do with sitting in Quaker meetings where everyone is silent.
Is napping.
Yeah, well, the hat somehow pokes you or cuts you if you start leaning over. I don’t know. There’s little thorns in it or something.
A wide-awake hat. Very interesting.
Yeah, you can find references in literature to wide-awake.
Which Conan Doyle story was that? Was that one of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries?
I don’t remember that.
I don’t know.
Another mystery. Maybe I’ve got to go reread them.
Yeah, Sam, let us know.
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