Every industry has its own jargon and the rag trade is no exception. Puzzler Rose Riordan recently wrote to say she was flicking through a clothing catalogue and realised she needed a dictionary to work out what was on offer.
I see what she means. I picked up a current catalogue, and read ‘marled cable jumper’. In the dictionary, marl was defined as ‘sedimentary rock used as fertiliser’. The jumper was not sounding attractive. Luckily another dictionary included a second meaning, ‘mottled yarn of different coloured threads’ – a shortened form of ‘marbled’.
Then there are terms like placket, ruching, shirring, slub and batwing. In the dictionary, a placket is a flap of fabric over a zip or pocket. Ruching means ‘plaiting’, and involves a ribbon gathering the material to form a scalloping edge. Shirring is two or more rows of gathers, slub is a rough knobbly texture and batwing means wide sleeves.
Then there’s bootleg jeans. The word ‘bootleg’ comes from smugglers carrying liquor bottles hidden in their boots. Is this what’s on offer? No, it just means the legs are wide enough to go over a pair of boots.
Another pair of jeans is described as having ‘a light wash with whiskering’. Hmmm. Here even the dictionary was no help – I’ve heard of stonewashed and sandblasted jeans, but whiskering? I had to go online to find out that it’s the pre-fabricated creases that create a broken-in and worn look in the denim.
So, instead of a jumper made of fertiliser and whiskery jeans hiding illegal liquor – we find the truth. Hail the dictionary and the internet!
Happy Puzzling!
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