Some English Names of Clothing Ending in -Wear
Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 20 (2007): 95-117 Some English Names of Clothing Ending in -wear David L. Gold Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language: Unabridged (1961) notes objectively that the word wear is “often used in combination”. Not everyone, however, has been satisfied with all the combinations. In A History of Modern Colloquial English (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1936), Henry Cecil Wyld wrote: “[...] we may begin our brief catalogue of curiosities, and we thus designate them not because of any inherent strangeness or eccentricity in the words themselves, but on account of the curious fact that what are normal and natural elements of speech in some circles, are regarded in others as ‘vulgar’ and laughable. We may begin with what have been called ‘shopwalker words’, such as vest for waistcoat, singlet for vest, neckwear for ties, footwear for boots and shoes. It is possible that some regard all these terms as graceful and elegant modes of expression, far superior to the homelier words which they displace. On the other hand, there are many speakers who would as soon think of uttering horrible oaths before ladies, as of using such words seriously” (p. 17). Almost fifty years later, -wear was condemned again. In I Stand Corrected: More on Language (New York, Times Books, 1984), William Safire first quoted Marilyn Plummer (“a new ‘retailese’ I’ve been seeing and hearing in the media: the new fascination with -wear”) and then went on to say that “She instances eyewear, footwear, neckwear, swimwear. ‘I realize that they’re probably catchall words to cover, in the case of eyewear, glasses and contact lenses.
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