On Oct 12, 2010, at 6:02 AM, annbw...@aol.com wrote:
Now here is another interesting use of a word for one's clothing and
accouterments. Had to look up exactly what "regalia" means--I have
of course seen it to mean one's trappings, outfit, etc. Its origin,
though, which makes sense if one thinks about it, is the rights and
privileges belong to a monarch or ruler.
I referred to myself as a costume historian to a War of 1812
reenactor, and he insisted his outfit is clothing, not costume.
Yet, among square dancers, the preferred term for the matching
outfits worn by everyone on the committee of a national square dance
convention is "costume."
Clothing, apparel, attire, costume, regalia--I guess it is like
one's own personal name--one should use the term the individual (or
group) prefers. However, one shouldn't be offended if a poor soul
uses the wrong term because one doesn't know what that group prefers!
And in the Society for Creative Anachronism it's "garb."
When people are talking about their medieval clothes, they are
sometimes garb, sometimes simply clothes -- very few people call them
a "costume" (at least in my hearing), although someone who makes such
medieval clothes is usually a "costumer."
I prefer "clothes," as do many of the people I hang out with, but
"garb" is handy as a one-word term for "the clothes I wear to SCA
events, as opposed to the clothes I wear on other days."
____________________________________________________________
O Chris Laning <clan...@igc.org> - Davis, California
+ http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com
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