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Chapter 6Clothing Metaphors

• Some clothing terms are ironic:– Crowning someone could be part of a coronation– Or you could crown someone by hitting them on the head.

• Many clothing terms are actions:– Spinning or weaving yarns, Zip mail, Velcroid, Tanning

• Clothing analogies: – Corset, bracelet, anklet, helmet– Muff, cuff, ruff– Shirt, skirt

(Nilsen & Nilsen 129)

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Vocabulary Plus: A Source-Based Approach

www.ablongman.com/nilsen

By Don L. F. Nilsen

And Alleen Pace Nilsen

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Interesting Etymologies• Foothills, outskirts and skirting an issue are marginal.• “Girdle” relates to the “girth” of a horse.• Having something up your sleeve• “Hood” of a car is British “Bonnet”• “Jackets” relates to “jacks” and “le jacquerie.”

– Book jacket, record jacket, Jack of all trades• “Pants” comes from the “pantaloons” of Commedia dell’arte

(16th C)• Sabotage (wooden shoes are “sabots”)• “Trunk” of a car is British “boot”• Wearing the pants in the family is sexist.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 130-133)

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Amedia Bedelia Literalizations

• Cape of Good Hope

• Coat of arms

• Drawing the drapes

• Hood of a car

• Outskirts of the city

• Ragtime music

• paint

(Nilsen & Nilsen 132)

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Body Coverings

Vest | Dress | Shirt | Unmentionables Bulletproof vest

Investiture

Investment

Vested interests

Vestry

Dresser

Dressing

Window dressing

Give someone the shirt of your back

Keep your shirt on

Lose one’s shirt

Shirttail relatives

Shirtsleeve atmosphere

Captain Underpants

Car bra

Jock

Skirt(Nilsen & Nilsen 132-134)

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Head CoveringsCap | Crown / Corona | Veil

Capital

Capstone

Capstone experience

Jar cap

-----

Hood

Hoodwinked

Throw your hat into the ring

Crown (money)

Crown caps (on bottles)

Crown Prince

Tooth crown

-----

Corollary argument

Corona Borealis (Northern Crown)

Corona cigars

Corona del Sol

Coronary arteries

Coronation

Coroner (represents the Crown)

Coronet braids

Bridal Veil Falls

Veiled threat

Veiling true feelings

Velic(Nilsen & Nilsen 134-136)

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Crown: GermanicCorona: Latin

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Royal Crown Cola

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Corona Metaphors

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Foot CoveringsBoot | Shoe | Sock | Spur

Being booted out

Bet your boots

Boot camp

Boothill

Bootlicker

Dying with your boots on

Brake shoes

Horseshoe

If the shoe fits…

Shoe horn

Shoe tree

Shoe string

Shoestring potatoes

Shoestring tackle

Boston Red Sox

Chicago White Sox

Christmas stocking

Socking someone

Stocking cap

Wind sock

-----

Lawn hose

Larkspur

Railroad spur

Rooster spur

Spur gear

Spur of the moment

Spur ridge

Spurring someone on

Spurning someone(Nilsen & Nilsen 137-139)

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Personified Boots

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AccessoriesButton | Cuff | Apron

Belly button

Buttonholing someone

Campaign button

Hotbutton issue

Pushing someone’s buttons

Cuffing someone

Handcuffs

Speaking off the cuff

To handcuff someone

Tied to mother’s apron strings

Runway apron (in front of airport terminal)

Stage apron(Nilsen & Nilsen 140-143)

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More AccessoriesMuff | Glove | Lace

Earmuffs

Muffle

Muffler

Muff a ball

Muff a line

Muff an introduction

Foxglove plant

Glove compartment

Treat someone with kid gloves

Working hand in glove

Iron lacework

Lace a drink (liquor or poison)

Lacerated

Lacewing flies

Necklace

Shoelaces

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Still More AccessoriesBelt | Collar

Belt down a drink

Belt out a song

Belt someone

Beltline

Beltway

Bible Belt

Corn Belt

Fan belt

Hitting below the belt

Rust Belt (industrial states)

Sun Belt

Blue-collar job

Leather necks (Marines)

Minister’s dog collar

Pink-collar job

Police: To collar someone

White-Collar crime (Nilsen & Nilsen 142-143)

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Lace Metaphors

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Words from Clothing Makers

Fuller

Going for a spin

Homespun humor

Looming up

Snyder, Schneider

Shuttle (bus, cock)

Shuttle diplomacy

Spindle Shanks

Spider’s spineret

Spin City

Spin doctor

Spin-off company

Spinster

Tailspin

Taylor

Tucker

Weaver

Weber

Webb

Webster(Nilsen & Nilsen 145-152)

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Curlylocks: A Nursery Rhyme

• Curlylocks, Curlylocks, Wilt thou be mine?

• Thou shalt not wash dishes, nor yet feed the swine,

• But sit on a cushion, And sew a fine seam,

• And feed upon stawberries, sugar, and cream.

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Fabric MetaphorsCotton | Silk | Wool

Cotton candy

Cottin-pickin’ job

Cottonmouth Moccassin

Peter Cottontail

Silk Route

Silk-tongued orator

Silky Terrier

Silk-stocking event

Silk stockings

Dyed in the wool attitudes

Woolgathering

Woolly aphids

Woolly bear

Woolly mamoth(Nilsen & Nilsen 147-149)

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More Fabric MetaphorsString | Thread

String bean X 2

String someone along

Stringent detergent

Stringent rules

Stringer (long timber)

Stringers (reporters)

Stringing words together

Stringy hair

Thread (on a bolt)

Thread of a story

Threadbare existence

Threading your way through a crowd

Threads (clothes)(Nilsen & Nilsen 147-149)

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Clothing Metaphors

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!Identifications & Etymologies

• Arachne and Athena

• Penelope and Ulysses• --------------• Chintzy Chintz (cloth w/shiny surface)

• Corduroy (cords of the king)

• Ends: at loose ends, making ends meet

• Subtle sub + tela (cloth)

• Text, texture L Texere (to weave) (Nilsen & Nilsen 150-151)

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!Sewing Metaphors• Amending the constitution• Biased• Binding legislation• Border crossings• Bordering on embarassment• Canvassing a neighborhood• Fabric of someone’s life• Fabrication (lie)• Fringe benefits• Fringe group• On the fringes• Tearing or ripping into an opponent

(Nilsen & Nilsen 152-153)

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!!More Sewing Metaphors• All tied up• Denouement• Hemming and Hawing• Needling someone• On pins and needles• Patch someone through (telephone)• Patterns of behavior• Pin money• Seamy side of life• Tailoring a class

(Nilsen & Nilsen 154-155) • and• You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear .

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!!!Bursa/Purse Metaphors

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!!!Bursa/Purse Metaphors

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Reference

Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Vocabulary Plus High School and Up: A Source Based Approach. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, 2004.

www.ablongman.com/nilsen