Hat Blog

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Movie Reviews

 

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Movie Reviews from a Hat-Centric Point of View

First of all – it wasn’t a premier; just a lowly screening.  Han Solo did not step out from behind the curtain.  Karen Allen was probably back on her farm in New England.  Spielberg was off planning his next serious project.  We were simply at an early viewing along with various other overweight fan boys, geeks and merchants of Indiana Jones various licenses.  Although the geeky skateboarding kid from Clueless who falls in love with Brittney Murphy was in attendance with his friends.  He seemed like a pleasant enough fellow.

So to be fair – right of the bat we were a bit disappointed.  We didn’t even get to view it at Mann’s Chinese Theatre as promised (and where I had never been).  It was at the multi-plex upstairs.  We were duped.  Mislead.  And aggravated.

When the movie finally started, our first partial glimpse of Indy in nearly 20 years came as a pleasant surprise – it was not actually our boy, but his hat.  And, I should add it looked damn good.  In fact the hat was a major character throughout the movie (and one of the best).  That can’t be a bad thing for the hat industry.

The movie on the other hand was sort of a disappointment.  It wasn’t a bad movie; in fact I’m giving it a B+ (just barely – like 87.5% with a cool teacher).  But compared to the first three (A+, 100% on Raiders, A-, 92% on Temple and solid A, 97% on Crusade), it just does not hold up.  Indy looked old – which is fine but they should have had much more fun with this fact.  Other than a couple brief mentions they seemed to ignore his advancing years as he beat the hell out of men half his age (sometimes three at a time).  Karen Allen looked like an aging athlete trying to get back in the game (think Larry Holmes circa 2004).  She seemed so pleased with herself that I kept thinking she was going to look at the camera, wink, and say, “Isn’t this just the greatest thing ever!  I’m acting!”  And as far as Shia LeBeouf goes, I have yet to be all that impressed with a single thing he’s ever done.  I don’t particularly dislike him mind you – he’s nowhere near my almost pathological hatred of Brendan Frasier (what has that jackass ever done that’s worth a damn and why is he famous and rich?)  He’s just blah.  And he continues his blah streak in this movie.  I mean, really – Shia LeBouf?  A tough guy with a switchblade?  Man, I am just not buying it.

Despite all that criticism, I was entertained for most of the two hours of the movie.  Any chance I get to see Indiana Jones/Han Solo/Rick Deckard on the big screen speaking in Mayan, brushing off cobwebs in some 4000 year old grave, cocking that beautiful hat and teaching some punk kid a thing or two, I still walk smiling.  Even if the story has some absurd holes and ridiculous twists towards the end, Harrison Ford has the ability make it all worthwhile, as anyone who came of age in the 70’s will attest to. 

My verdict is – go see it.  Just don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed.

Bruce Zales – Designer of Jaxon Hats
www.VillageHatShop.com
www.JaxonHats.com

 

I would say the film is an 8.5, definitely a lot of action and an interesting story line.  I would rate it as the number 4 movie in the series. 

A lot of references to the hat, at least 3 majors ones that I remember.  The hat is almost a character in itself!  One interesting tidbit, Indiana Jones does wear a different color fedora in a few scenes in the movie.  A grey felt fedora with a black hat band; this hat is soon lost and never recovered. 

I caught a few references to the past storylines, I'm sure there were more that I didn't catch.

Cate Blanchett was great as the new villain - thirsty for power; and Shia LeBeouf played the rebellious youth, his energy was a great part of the entire cast ensemble.

As for Harrison Ford, he was great!  He still has that charm that guides us through all of his adventures throughout the world. 

The story touches upon the mortality of its main character, we learn that heroes can't live forever but their legends live on. 

All in all, I think the 4th installment stays true to the series, fun and exciting; I would definitely see it again!

Susan Lee – Designer of sur la tete Hats
www.VillageHatShop.com

 

I went to the screening of the new Indiana Jones movie last night! The picture will certainly be the blockbuster of the summer. It was fun, exciting and action pack. Harrison Ford played the classic Indiana Jones we all remember and loved. He still has it!

 

Best of all, the movie really focused in on the hat! Several close-ups and laughs drew attention to his hat. Truly solidifying the Indy trademark.

 

The movie ended with the hat blowing in from a gust of wind. It lands at the feet of the kid (Shia LaBeouf). He picks it up and is JUST about to put it on. You are thinking the hat is passing on to Indy's predecessor. BUT... Indy swiftly grabs it, puts it on, and strolls out of the building.

 

Classic ending that left you with a smile and relief Indiana Jones will live on!

 

Gear up for big "IJ" hat sales next week. The movie has sold it!

 

 

Lisa Deluca Zimmerman – Hat Seller of Official Indiana Jones Hats

Hat Metaphors and Similes

I collect these. Additions to this list are welcome. Also, note that in some cases I don’t know the origin of a particular expression. If you have knowledge or theories of origin for anything below, I’d also like to hear from you. I hope you enjoy these.

Talking Through Your Hat

To talk nonsense or to lie. c1885. [In an interview in The World entitled "How About White Shirts", a reporter asked a New York streetcar conductor what he thought about efforts to get the conductors to wear white shirts like their counterparts in Chicago. "Dey're talkin' tru deir hats" he was quoted as replying.]

Eating Your Hat

There is no such thing as a sure thing, but that's where this expression comes from. If you tell someone you'll eat your hat if they do something, make sure you’re not wearing your best hat-just in case. [The expression goes back at least to the reign of Charles II of Great Britain and had something to do with the amorous proclivities of 'ol Charlie. Apparently they named a goat after him that had his same love of life which included, in the goat's case, eating hats.]

Old Hat

Old, dull stuff; out of fashion. [This seems to come from the fact that hat fashions are constantly changing. The fact of the matter is that hat fashions had not been changing very fast at all until the turn of the 19th Century. The expression therefore is likely about 100 years old.]

Mad As A Hatter

Totally demented, crazy. [Hatters did, indeed, go mad. They inhaled fumes from the mercury that was part of the process of making felt hats. Not recognizing the violent twitching and derangement as symptoms of a brain disorder, people made fun of affected hat-makers, often treating them as drunkards. In the U.S., the condition was called the "Danbury shakes." (Danbury, Connecticut, was a hat-making center.) Mercury is no longer used in the felting process: hat-making -- and hat-makers -- are safe.]

Hat In Hand

A demonstration of humility. For example, "I come hat in hand" means that I come in deference or in weakness. [I assume that the origins are from feudal times when serfs or any lower members of feudal society were required to take off their hats in the presence of the lord or monarch (remember the Dr. Seuss book "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins"?). A hat is your most prideful adornment.]

Pass The Hat

Literally to pass a man's hat among members of an audience or group as a means for collecting money. Also to beg or ask for charity. [The origin is self-evident as a man's hat turned upside down makes a fine container.]

Tight As Dick's Hat Band

Anything that is too tight. [The Dick in this case is Richard Cromwell, the son of England's 17th Century "dictator", Oliver Cromwell. Richard succeeded his dad and wanted to be king but was quickly disposed. The hatband in the phrase refers to the crown he never got to wear.]

Hat Trick

Three consecutive successes in a game or another endeavor. For example, taking three wickets with three successive pitches by a bowler in a game of cricket, three goals or points won by a player in a game of soccer or ice hockey, etc. [From cricket, from the former practice of awarding a hat to a bowler who dismissed three batsmen with three successive balls.]

Hard Hats

In the 19th Century, men who wore derby hats specifically Eastern businessmen and later crooks, gamblers and detectives. [Derby hats, a.k.a. Bowlers or Cokes, were initially very hard as they were developed in 1850 for use by a game warden, horseback rider wanting protection.] Today, "Hard Hats" are construction workers [for obvious reasons].

In One's Hat, or In Hat

An expression of incredulity. [Origin unknown. Help us if you can]

Throwing A Hat In the Ring

Entering a contest or a race e.g. a political run for office. [A customer wrote us with the following: "I read in "The Language of American Politics" by William F. Buckley Jr. that the phrase "throw one's hat in the ring" comes from a practice of 19th Century saloonkeepers putting a boxing ring in the middle of the barroom so that customers who wanted to fight each other would have a place to do so without starting a donnybrook. If a man wanted to indicate that he would fight anybody, he would throw his hat in the ring.
At one point, Theodore Roosevelt declared he was running for office with a speech that included a line that went something like, "My hat is in the ring and I am stripped to the waist". The phrase "my hat in the ring" stuck, probably because "I am stripped to the waist" is a little gross.]

Hats Off . . .

"Hats off to the U.S. Winter Olympic Team" for example. An exclamation of approval or kudos. [Origins must be from the fact that taking one's hat off or tipping one's hat is a traditional demonstration of respect.]

A Feather In Your Cap

A special achievement. [I assume that the origins on this expression hail from the days when, in fact, a feather for one's cap would be awarded for an accomplishment much like a medal is awarded today and pinned to one's uniform. A feather, or a pin, add a certain prestige or luster to one's apparel.]

Hold On To Your Hat(s)

A warning that some excitement or danger is imminent. [When riding horseback or in an open-air early automobile, the exclamation "hold on to your hat" when the horse broke into a gallop or the car took-off was certainly literal.]

Bee In Your Bonnet

An indication of agitation or an idea that you can't let go of and just have to express. [A real bee in one's bonnet certainly precipitates expression.]

Wearing Many Hats

This of course is a metaphor for having many different duties or jobs. [Historically, hats have often been an integral, even necessary, part of a working uniform. A miner, welder, construction worker, undertaker, white-collar worker or banker before the 1960s, chef, farmer, etc. all wear, or wore, a particular hat. Wearing "many hats" or "many different hats" simply means that one has different duties or jobs.]

All Hat and No Cattle

All show and no substance. For example, in October 2003, Senator Robert Byrd declared that the Bush administration's declarations that it wanted the United Nations as a partner in transforming Iraq were "All Hat and No Cattle". [This Texas expression refers to men who dress the part of powerful cattlemen, but don't have the herds back home.]

To Hang Your Hat (or not)

To commit to something (or not), or stake your reputation on something (or not), like an idea or policy. For example "I wouldn't hang my hat on George Steinbrenner's decision to fire his manager." [Origin unknown. Can anyone help with this one?]

At the Drop of a Hat

Fast. [Dropping a hat, can be a way in which a race can start (instead of a starting gun for example). Also, a hat is an apparel item that can easily become dislodged from its wearer. Anyone who wears hats regularly has experienced the quickness by which a hat can fly off your head.]

To Tip Your Hat or A Tip of the Hat

An endorsement of respect, approval, appreciation, or the like. Example: "A tip of the hat to American troops for the capture of Saddam Hussein." [This is simply verbalizing an example of hat etiquette. Men would (and some still do) tip their hat to convey the same message.]

My Hat Instead of Myself

This is an expression from Ecuador, home of the "Panama" hat. It means what is says; it is preferable to give up your hat than your life. [The Guayas River runs through Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city on the Pacific coast. People from the city were known to hunt alligators for their hides in the river by swimming stark naked wearing Panama hats on their heads and long knives between their teeth. When the reptiles open their jaws and go for the swimmer, he dives leaving his hat floating on the surface for the alligator to chew on while he plunges the knife into the animal's vitals. From THE PANAMA HAT TRAIL by Tom Miller.]

Bad Hat

I believe this is a French expression for a bad person. [Ludwig Bemelmans' MADELINE series of children's books, set in France, includes one MADELINE AND THE BAD HAT. In this story Madeline, our heroine, refers to a little boy neighbor as a "bad hat". She clearly means this as a metaphor for a bad person and because I do not know the expression in English, I assume this is a common French reference. If anyone out there knows more about this, please drop us an email.]

Hat by Hat

Step by step. [Nevada Barr's book SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT: Hat by Hat means just that. Has anyone heard this expression otherwise? If yes, please email us.]

Keeping Something Under One's Hat

Keeping a secret. [People kept important papers and small treasures under their hats. One's hat was often the first thing put on in the morning and the last thing taken off at night, so literally keeping things under one's hat was safe keeping. A famous practitioner of this was Abraham Lincoln. The very utilitarian cowboy hat was also commonly used for storage.]

Here's Your Hat, But What's Your Hurry

When someone has taken up enough of your time and you want him/her to leave. [Origin unknown.]
Carry His Office in His Hat
Operating a business on a shoestring. [Important papers and the like were often carried in one's hat.]

Sets Her Cap

A young lady "sets her cap" for a young man who she hopes to interest in marrying her. [Long ago, maidens wore caps indoors because homes were poorly heated. A girl set her most becoming hat on her head when an eligible fellow came to call.]

Thinking Cap

To put on your "thinking cap" is to give some problem careful thought. [Teachers and philosophers in the Middle Ages often wore distinctive caps that set them apart from those who had less learning. Caps became regarded as a symbol of education. People put them on (literally or figuratively) to solve their own problems.]

Black Hat . . .

Black hat tactics, black hat intentions, etc. refer to nefarious actions or designs. [Black hats in Western lore and literature were the bad guys.]

White Hat . . .

Although I don't see or hear this expression as much as "Black Hat", it simply is the opposite of the above. [Good guys wore/wear white hats.]

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com
www.Berets.com
www.JaxonHats.com

Some Fun with Antiquated Hat Terms - Part Four: 1900 - 1944

I have uncovered some obscure and unusual words while looking back at the history of hats and headdress. Having recently finished reading THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN (by Simon Winchester, HarperCollins 1998) about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, I thought it might be fun to explore the definitions and etymology of some of these ancient terms, most of which have all but disappeared from modern use. [You’ll find parts one through three at ezinearticles.com and the HAT BLOG: Everything Hats.]

In the first parts of this project, I indicated that to qualify for inclusion in the list, the word “must show up with a squiggly red line at Microsoft Word’s ‘spell check’ tool.” Now however, as these terms enter 20th Century usage, they are, of course, less obscure. For these last few entries, I have changed the requirements for making the list. Certainly, more readers will know the terms below than was the case in parts one through three. Here are the last few terms – not seen everyday, but also not so lost to antiquity that “spell check” was stumped. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series.

Gainsborough Hat

2. A large broad-brimmed hat of the type worn by women in Gainsborough's portraits. In full, Gainsborough hat.
1878 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Aug. 569/2 The..wearers of the Gainsborough, Rembrandt, and beef-eater hats. 1884 [see CART-WHEEL n. 5]. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 12 Aug. 5/1 Extemporised Gainsboroughs. 1928 Amer. Speech IV. 92 One remembers the Gainsborough hat.

Merry widow Hat

2. a. In full Merry Widow hat. A kind of ornate wide-brimmed woman's hat, usually made of straw and trimmed with plumes.
1908 Daily Chron. 9 July 1/4 The women in the galleries took off their ‘Merry Widow’ hats, and waved them frantically. 1909 Daily Chron. 21 Jan. 7/3 A huge Merry Widow of the approved Occidental pattern from China. 1956 C. H. B. KITCHIN Secret River i. 61 Mrs. Ashworth in a Merry Widow hat, in which she thought she had looked ravishing. 1986 G. O'HARA Encycl. Fashion 171 Merry Widow hats were fashionable for several years.

Overseas cap

II. Special uses.
3. overseas cap orig. U.S. Mil., a peakless fabric cap worn by U.S. servicemen when serving overseas; (in extended use) any army cap resembling this. overseas Chinese, a Chinese emigrant; (also) any person of Chinese ethnic origin living outside China. overseas experience, (a) experience of life and culture in an overseas country; (b) N.Z. (orig. humorous) [perh. influenced by colonial experience s.v. COLONIAL a. C.], an overseas working holiday, usually to Britain or Europe, undertaken by young New Zealanders and freq. considered as a virtually obligatory part of an informal education; abbreviated OE.
[1918 Stars & Stripes 8 Feb. 4/5 The officers' Oversea cap will be the same model as that worn by the men, but the material will be that of the officers' uniform.] 1918 Marines Mag. July 33/1 A special cap, officially known as the ‘*overseas cap’, is now being worn by the soldiers and marines of the American Expeditionary Force. 1992 Philadelphia Inquirer Mag. 11 Oct. 35/1 When he got to the Pacific in 1942 most naval officers were wearing overseas caps or officer's caps.

Shingle

e. A style of cutting women's hair short, as in the bob, but with the back hair shingled (cf. SHINGLE v.1 2a). Also, hair cut in this way.
1924 Hairdressing Feb. (caption), Based on the ‘shingle’. 1927 F. E. BAILY Golden Vanity xvii. 265 Doris powdered her face, combed her dark shingle, lit a cigarette, and picked up her beef cubes. 1945 N. MITFORD Pursuit of Love xx. 172 She had a short canary-coloured shingle (windswept) and wore trousers. 1975 G. HOWELL In Vogue 13/1 The small pitted cloche brought in the bob, which became the ‘shingle’ or the ‘bingle’ of the twenties.

Cadogan

[Said to be from the name of the 1st Earl Cadogan (died 1726). See Littré, and N. & Q. 7th Ser. IV. 467, 492.]

A mode of knotting the hair behind the head.
c1780 B'NESS D'OBERKIRCH Mem. (1852) II. ix, The duchess of Bourbon had introduced at the court of Montbéliard..[the fashion] of cadogans, hitherto worn only by gentlemen.

Juliet cap

[Female personal name (F. Juliette, It. Giulietta), dim. of Julia.]

Juliet cap (see quot. 1957).
1909 Westm. Gaz. 9 Feb. 8/3 Their Juliet caps were composed of violets. 1930 Daily Tel. 7 Apr. 7/6 The ‘Juliet’ cap idea is to be found in the little theatre hats worn abroad. 1957 M. B. PICKEN Fashion Dict. 49/2 Juliet cap, small, round cap of wide, open mesh, usually decorated with pearls or other jewels, similar to that worn on the stage by Shakespeare's Juliet. Worn chiefly for evening. 1973 Times 15 Nov. 6/3 The bridesmaid..wore a pinafore dress and a jewelled Juliet cap.

Babushka

[Russ., grandmother, f. baba (peasant) woman.]

A head covering folded diagonally and tied under the chin; a head-scarf.
1938 Chatelaine Feb. 33/2 The babushka is a peasant-sort of hood you wear over your pretty curls. 1948 F. BROWN Murder can be Fun (1951) vii. 106 She wore a greenish mottled babushka and..stringy hair..pushed out in front of it. 1959 Encounter Oct. 32/2 A voile scarf tied babushka-style.

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com

Some Fun with Antiquated Hat Terms - Part Three- 1800 - 1900

I have uncovered some obscure and unusual words while looking back at the history of hats and headdress. Having recently finished reading THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN (by Simon Winchester, HarperCollins 1998) about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, I thought it might be fun to explore the definitions and etymology of some of these ancient terms, most of which have all but disappeared from modern use. [I’ll breakup this project into three or four parts, so stay tuned.]

To qualify for inclusion below, the word must show up with a squiggly red line at Microsoft Word’s “spell check” tool. So here goes: [Note: As I move into part three of this project, terms become less lost in antiquity. I have included a few words, albeit rarely used today that did show up “spell check”.]

Poke Bonnet

Now hist.

1. A bonnet with a projecting brim, fashionable esp. in the 19th cent. 1801 C. DIBDIN Song Smith in Mirth & Metre (1807) 62, I'll hammer out songs by the staves if you please, Short as new-fashion'd sight, or as long as poke bonnets. 1820 F. MACDONOGH Hermit in London V. xcii. 35 Another street nuisance is your poke-bonnet ladies, who sometimes put out your eyes with these pent-house projections. 1837 E. BULWER-LYTTON Ernest Maltravers II. IV. vi. 67 A few ladies of middle age..wear..straw poke bonnets. 1858 R. S. SURTEES Ask Mamma ix, [A] lady..painted in one of the old poke bonnets of former days. 1884 Cent. Mag. 28 14 Eight or nine ladies, gentlemen, and children, in the poke-bonnets and high-collared coats of the year 1839. 1913 W. CATHER O Pioneers! I. i. 12 This city child was dressed in what was then called the ‘Kate Greenaway’ manner,..her poke bonnet, gave her the look of a quaint little woman. 1984 P. ALLEN Old Galleries of Cumbria (BNC) 18 Married women wore a cap, a blue linen apron.., neb shaped clogs with buckled shoes for better wear, a poke bonnet and cloak for outer wear.

2. spec. A bonnet of this kind traditionally worn by women members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Salvation Army, etc. Hence: a wearer of this kind of bonnet. 1848 J. R. BARTLETT Dict. Americanisms s.v., Poke-bonnet, a long, straight bonnet, much worn by Quakers and Methodists. 1862 H. MARRYAT One Year in Sweden II. lvi. 264 We dined at a farmhouse.., the property of Anabaptists, a sect most numerous in Götland. There's no mistaking the women by their downcast looks and black poke-bonnets. 1877 Sat. Rev. 12 May 577/2 At Croydon, Dorking, and other favourite haunts of Friends, the..broad-brimmed hats for the men, and close poke-bonnets for the women, may still be seen. 1899 St. James' Gaz. 17 Aug. 11/2 Never reached by the Church,..or any other spiritual organisations, except possibly the ‘poke bonnets’ at the corners of the streets. 1902 E. BANKS Autobiogr. Newspaper Girl 107 The poke bonnet and dark blue dress, which I thought I would not get until I had spent a few days investigating what was the best way to join the Army. 1945 Musical Q. 31 276 Amish women are easily identified by their poke bonnets, shawls, and a complete absence of ornament in their attire. 2000 Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 14 May 36 A Pennsylvania Amish in a poke bonnet goes next, happy as a bug.

Gibus

f. Gibus the name of the first maker.]

An opera or crush hat. Also gibus-hat. 1848 THACKERAY Bk. Snobs xviii, With his gibus-hat and his little glazed pumps. a1854 E. FORBES Lit. Papers viii. (1855) 214 No man in a gibus ever commanded public awe or private respect. 1888 Daily Tel. 28 Apr. 5/2 The collapsible crush hat or Gibus.

[Note from Belinsky: Today a Gibus is more commonly known as a “Collapsible Top Hat”.]

Riding Casquette

[Fr.; fem. of casquet, dim. of casque CASQUE.]

A head dress resembling a casque. 1840 L. S. COSTELLO Summ. amongst Bocages II. 206 His long tresses were confined by an eastern-looking casquette.

[a. F. casque, ad. Sp. casco in same sense: see CASK n.]

1. A piece of armour to cover the head; a helmet. A term applied very loosely to all kinds of military head-pieces, and now only historical, poetical, or foreign. Formerly written CASK. 1580-1649 [see CASK n. 4]. 1696 PHILLIPS, Casque, a helmet. 1714 GAY Trivia III. 363 The fireman sweats beneath his crooked arms, A leathern casque his vent'rous head defends. 1791 COWPER Iliad III. 375 They shook them in a brazen casque. 1842 TENNYSON Galahad 1 My good blade carves the casques of men. 1877 Daily News 24 Dec. 5/4 The mitre-like casques of the Pauloff Guard regiment.

Manier Bandeau

[Fr.: OF. bandel, dim. form from bande BAND n.2; cf. BANDORE2.]

a. A narrow band or fillet worn by women to bind the hair, or as part of a head-dress. b. A bandage for the eyes. 1706 T. BETTERTON Amorous Widow I. 4 The fairest Hair, the beautiful'st Curls do not become your Forehead, so well as a Bando did. c1790 F. BURNEY Diary (1842) I. 98 (D.) That bandeau..was worn by every woman at court. a1847 MRS. SHERWOOD Lady of Manor III. xxi. 277 Just make up this bandeau for my hair. ?1858 C. MATHEWS Autobiog. (1879) I, In a laced night-cap with sky-blue bandeau. 1861 GEN. P. THOMPSON Audi Alt. III. clxi. 175 The Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Paul Louis said of fortune, sees under his bandeau. 1908 [see BARRETTE 2]. 1959 Sunday Times 5 Apr. 22/5 As small as it is possible to be and still be called a hat, a bandeau and bow are caught in a cage of veiling.

c. A strip of velvet or other material generally made up in a circular form to be stitched inside the lower part of the crown of a hat that is too large for the head. 1908 Daily Chron. 29 Jan. 4/7 With the right sort of ‘bandeau’..you need not wear a hatpin at all.

Sennit Straw

Naut. [var. of SINNET.]

a. = SINNET. b. (See quot. 1858.) 1769 FALCONER Dict. Marine (1789), Sennit. 1858 SIMMONDS Dict. Trade, Sennit,..plaited straw or palm leaves, &c., of which grass hats are made. 1881 Chequered Career 92 These young gentlemen are to be seen..making sennet, the latter amusement being on a par with picking oakum. attrib. and Comb. 1882 NARES Seamanship (ed. 6) 79 A sennit eye is worked in. c1898 J. CHALMERS in Lovett Life (1902) 146 The long sennit hawser kept on deck had been passed ashore to natives on the reef.

[Note from Belinsky: Today, a Sennit Straw is more commonly know as a “Boater” or “Skimmer” or “Sailor Straw”.]

Montero

Now hist. [< Spanish montera MONTERA n., with alteration of the ending, prob. after earlier loans of Spanish words in -ero -EER1.

In forms, remodelled after -EER.]

1. A cap of a type formerly worn in Spain for hunting, having a spherical crown and (freq. fur-lined) flaps able to be drawn down to protect the ears and neck. Also montero cap.

Common esp. in the 17th cent. 1611 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French & Eng. Tongues s.v. Barbute, A riding hood; a Montero, or close hood, wherewith travellers preserve their faces and heads from frost-biting and weather-beating. 1622 R. HAWKINS Observ. Voiage S. Sea xiii. 28 Upon their heads they weare a Night-capp, vpon it a Montero, and a Hat over that. a1642 W. BEDELL in T. Fuller Abel Redevivus (1651) 69 Another..sent him..a Muntiro lined with rich Sables. 1694 P. A. MOTTEUX tr. Rabelais Wks. IV. xxx. (1737) 124 The Midriff, like a Mounteer-Cap. c1700 J. FRASER Chron. Frasers (1905) 164 The fellow..shot an arrow at him, which stuck fast in the tippet of his mountire cape which hung behind his back. 1703 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion II. IX. 516 [He] was taken in his Journey, having a Mountero on his head. 1762 L. STERNE Life Tristram Shandy VI. xxiv. 103 The Montero-cap was scarlet..and mounted all round with furr, except [etc.]. 1823 SCOTT Peveril III. xii. 298 A large montero cap, that enveloped his head. 1859 G. W. THORNBURY in Househ. Words 8 Jan. 134/1 The black cup-like rim of his montero. 1984 J. NUNN Fashion in Costume 1200-1980 63 The montero..was occasionally worn out-of-doors when travelling or hunting. 1999 Britannica Online (Version 99.1), Men [in colonial America] also wore the montero cap, which had a flap that could be turned down.

2. In extended use. Obs. 1820 W. IRVING Sketch Bk. II. 382 The cedar bird, with..its little monteiro cap of feathers.

Cadogan

[Said to be from the name of the 1st Earl Cadogan (died 1726). See Littré, and N. & Q. 7th Ser. IV. 467, 492.]

A mode of knotting the hair behind the head. c1780 B'NESS D'OBERKIRCH Mem. (1852) II. ix, The duchess of Bourbon had introduced at the court of Montbéliard..[the fashion] of cadogans, hitherto worn only by gentlemen.

Postilion Hat

Now chiefly hist. [< Middle French, French postillon person who rides a post-horse, postman, courier (1560 in Middle French), person who rides one of the horses in front of a coach (1680), small supplementary float on a fishing line (1868), basque imitating a postilion's coat in style (1869) and its probable etymon Italian postiglione guide or forerunner for the post, courier, driver of a post-coach (although this is app. first attested later than the French and English words: 1585) < posta POST n.3 + -iglione, suffix (< -iglia -ILLA suffix + -one: see -OON suffix). Cf. Spanish postillón (1552), Portuguese postilhão (1552), both prob. < Italian (in spite of the chronological difficulties), and also German Postillion, Postilion, Postillon courier (1572; now obs. in this sense), (now hist.) driver of a post-coach (1750 or earlier; < either Middle French or Italian).]

2. A person who rides a post-horse, a post-boy; (more generally) a courier, a swift messenger. Also fig. Now rare. 1616 J. BULLOKAR Eng. Expositor, Postilion, a speedy poste or messenger. 1645 J. HOWELL Epist. Ho-elianæ To Rdr. sig. A3, Those wing'd postillions that can flie, From the Anartic to the Artic skie. 1663 B. GERBIER Counsel to Builders 8 Postillions, hasten with the Packet-Maile to the Post Office. 1685 tr. B. Gracian Courtiers Oracle 160 These are the Postillions of life, who to the swift motion of time, add the rapidity of their own minds. 1708 London Gaz. No. 4464/6, The Postillion of Ghent is just now arrived, with Letters to Mr. de Caris. 1858 Harper's Mag. Apr. 593/2 Mr. Atkinson left Moscow early in March, accompanied by a post-office postillion, who had orders to escort him to the Siberian frontier. 1908 Daily Chron. 28 May 5/3 The wife of the family cook was ‘love's postillion’ between the Princess and Koczain.

3. A person who rides the (leading) nearside (left-hand side) horse drawing a coach or carriage, esp. when one pair only is used and there is no coachman. Also in extended use: an outrider for a carriage. Now chiefly hist.

COMPOUNDS

C2. Applied to fashion styles or clothing intended to imitate that of a postilion, as postilion-back, postilion-belt, etc. See also sense 5. Now rare. 1773 J. MINZIES Let. 12 June in F. Mason John Norton & Sons (1968) 330, 6 Postillion Caps. 1872 Young Englishwoman Dec. 651/2 A dress of olive-brown..had a basque bodice with a postilion back. 1886 Peterson's Mag. Apr. 377/1 At the back, the jacket is laid in postillion-plaits. 1890 Cent. Dict., Postilion-belt, a leather belt with a large buckle, worn by ladies about 1860. 1904 Daily Chron. 2 Jan. 8/4 The postilion tabs at the back of the bodice. 1942 E. FERBER Saratoga Trunk vii. 147 The little gray shoulder cape of ottoman silk was edged with narrow black French lace and its postilion back made her small waist look still tinier.

Puggree

[a. Hind. pag a turban.]

1. A light turban or head-covering worn by inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. 1665 SIR T. HERBERT Trav. (1677) 140 Eastern People..such.. as wear Turbans, Mandils, Dustars, and Puggarees. 1696 J. OVINGTON Voy. Suratt 314 With a Puggarie, or Turbant upon their Heads. 1698 FRYER Acc. E. India & P. 93 A Green Vest and Puckery (or Turbat). 1845 SIR W. NAPIER Conq. Scinde II. i. 224 The Mohamedan Belooch always obeys him who wears the Puggree. 1893 W. FORBES-MITCHELL Remin. Gt. Mutiny 287 The latter wore voluminous thick puggries round their heads. 1930 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 22 Apr. 5/2 He has no British officers and no uniform except a distinguishing kind of pagri (head-dress). 1930 Punch 1 Oct. 392/2 Mr Thompson should not allow this bee to find a permanent home in his pagri. 1974 ‘B. MATHER’ White Dacoit 18 Sowars straightened tunics and pagris.

2. A scarf of thin muslin or a silk veil wound round the crown of a sun-helmet or hat and falling down behind as a shade. 1859 DICKENS in All Year Round 30 July 332/1 A ‘Puggery’ is a long slip of white muslin which is bound round the hat and formed into a fantastic bow, with tails behind. 1866 Cornh. Mag. Dec. 741 A silk coat, a puggree, boots, and white cords, adorned the wealthier. 1885 Times 20 Feb. 6/1 Officers and men were attired in red serge tunics,..sun helmets and puggarees. 1901 B. SHAW Three Plays for Purit., Capt. Brassbound I. 215 He wears the sun helmet and pagri, the neutral-tinted spectacles, and the white canvas Spanish sand shoes.

3. attrib., as puggree-cloth. 1934 [see DRILL n.5]. 1978 ‘M. M. KAYE’ Far Pavilions vi. 98 She slept soundly..tied to him by a length of pagri (turban) cloth that prevented her from falling.

Hence pugg(a)reed a., covered with or wearing a puggree. 1881 MRS. C. PRAED Policy & P. I. 13 A broad-brimmed puggareed hat. 1900 Daily News 1 Aug. 3/1 A graceful wave of his green, puggareed soft slouch hat.

Cabriolet

[a. F. cabriolet, deriv. of cabriole, so called from its elastic bounding motion.]

1. a. A light two-wheeled chaise drawn by one horse, having a large hood of wood or leather, and an ample apron to cover the lap and legs of the occupant. Contracted by 1830 to CAB, and in later times applied to any vehicle known by that name. Also, the top or open section of a carriage. b. A motor car with fixed sides and a folding top.

2. A bonnet or hat shaped like a cabriolet. 1771 H. WALPOLE Let. 31 July (1904) 63, I have bespoken two cabriolets for her, instead of six, because I think them very dear. 1923 Daily Mail 22 June 11 Cabriolet hats are in fashion again... With a cabriolet you must have ribbon streamers falling over one shoulder.

Marcel Wave

[< the name of François Marcel Grateau (1852-1936), French hairdresser who invented the method.]

I. Compounds.

1. marcel wave, a deep artificial wave in the hair produced by heated curling tongs; also fig. 1895 in N. & Q. (1941) 6 Sept. 129/1 (advt.) Experts in the Marcel and Last Vienna Wave. 1908 Smart Set Sept. 86/1 And when she ‘comes to’, her Marcelle wave is straight as a shad. 1909 ‘O. HENRY’ Roads of Destiny iv. 62 Man, what do you suppose she did? Loosened up like a Marcel wave in the surf at Coney. 1930 R. MACAULAY Staying with Relations xvi. 226 Little marcel waves lapped at the Eugenia's white sides as she lay at anchor in the San José harbour. 1934 E. SITWELL Aspects Mod. Poetry i. 11 Mr. Austin Dobson, and his Marcel Waves, the wriggling, giggling horrors of his Triolets and other imitations of French forms. 1986 R. FRAME Long Weekend (1988) 121 Her thinning grey hair had been finger set in marcel waves.

2. marcel-waver, -waving; marcel-waved adj. 1923 Chambers's Jrnl. Sept. 568/1 She could lie without turning one of her exquisitely *marcel-waved hairs. 1968 Times 30 Jan. 9/7 Your head is frizzed or Marcel-waved. 1974 Daily Tel. 7 Aug. 11/2 This drawing-room comedy of 1931 has been carefully resuscitated..with wind-up gramophone, a marcel-waved heroine and snip~snap jokes. 1989 Observer 12 Feb. 36/4 Montana's models, with the occasional lock of hair stiffly Marcel waved or threaded with ribbon, looked like a party of Greek gods just back from a successful week at the health farm.

1908 ‘O. HENRY’ Gentle Grafter 62 A combination steak beater, shoe horn, *marcel waver. 1925 Daily Tel. 13 May 20/5 (advt.) Expert Marcel Waver and Manicurist.

1925 Daily Tel. 13 May 20/5 (advt.) *Marcel and water waving. 1932 L. GOLDING Magnolia St. III. iii. 508 They were masters of the latest methods of permanent marcel, water and finger waving. 1974 Observer 24 Nov. 29/6 There's a lady in Wellington, New Zealand, who was still doing marcel waving from the first time round when it came back again. 1990 Hair Oct.-Nov. 10/1 Based on marcel waving, a perming technique called retro-wave creates this effect.

II. Simple uses.

3. = marcel wave, sense 1. 1921 H. C. WITWER Leather Pushers x. 268 I'm gonna shoot a fight today that will put a permanent marcel in their hair! 1926 Glasgow Herald 25 Sept. 9 It began to rain... Many a beautiful marcel was sacrificed to save a masterpiece of millinery. 1964 L. HAIRSTON in J. H. Clarke Harlem 285 The waves in my hair done unstrung... I..called Sonny for an appointment; I had to have a marcel! 1979 W. KENNEDY Ironweed vi. 178 Her dark-brown hair, cut short, was waved in a soft marcel.

Psyche Knot

[a. Gr. (in L. ps ch ) breath, f. to breathe, to blow, (later) to cool; hence, life (identified with or indicated by the breath); the animating principle in man and other living beings, the source of all vital activities, rational or irrational, the soul or spirit, in distinction from its material vehicle, the or body; sometimes considered as capable of persisting in a disembodied state after separation from the body at death.

In Mythology, personified as in 1c. By Plato and other philosophers extended to the anima mundi, conceived to animate the general system of the universe, as the soul animates the individual organism. By St. Paul (developing a current Jewish distinction between rua , , spirit or breath, and nephesh, , soul) used for the lower or merely natural life of man, shared with other animals, in contrast with the or spirit, conceived as a higher element due to divine influence supervening upon the original constitution of unregenerate human nature: see PSYCHIC a. 2, PSYCHICAL 2. (For this and other developments in pre-Christian Judaism, and the N.T. writings, see R. H. Charles, Hist. of the Doctrine of a Future Life, 1899.)]

1. The soul, or spirit, as distinguished from the body; the mind. 1658 SIR T. BROWNE Hydriot. iv. 61 Why the Psyche or soul of Tiresias is of the masculine gender. 1794 SULLIVAN View Nat. II. 279 The two essentials in the composition of all sublunary things were, by the ancient Greeks, termed psyche and hyle, that is, spiritus et materia, soul and body. 1877 tr. Virchow in Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) II. xv. 407 If I explain attraction and repulsion as exhibitions of mind, as psychical phenomena, I simply throw the Psyche out of the window, and the Psyche ceases to be a Psyche. 1879 LEWES Study Psychol. 73 The most accredited [ancient] thinkers not only detached Man from Nature, but the Mind from the Organism; they invented a Psyche as the source of all mental phenomena. 1888 New Princeton Rev. Mar. 272 Psychology is the science of the psyche or soul. 1896 P. GARDNER Sculptured Tombs Hellas 24 The psyche, to Homer, is not in the least like the Christian Soul, but is a shadowy double of the man, wanting alike in force and wisdom. 1905 E. J. DILLON in Contemp. Rev. Aug. 287 It is difficult to realise the position and to picture the psyche of Rozhdestvensky [the Russian admiral who fired on the North Sea fishing fleet].

b. The animating principle of the universe as a whole, the soul of the world or anima mundi. 1647 H. MORE Song of Soul Notes 138/2 Such is the entrance of Psyche into the body of the Vniverse, kindling and exciting the dead mist. 1678 CUDWORTH Intell. Syst. I. iv. §21. 388 This is taken by Plotinus to be the Eternal Psyche, that actively produceth All Things, in this Lower World, according to those Divine Ideas. Ibid. §23. 406 But in other places..he frequently asserts, above the Self~moving Psyche an Immovable and Standing Nous or Intellect, which was properly the Demiurgus.

c. In later Greek Mythol., personified as the beloved of Eros (Cupid or Love), and represented in works of art as having butterfly wings, or as a butterfly; known in literature as the heroine of the story related in the Golden Ass of Apuleius. Hence attrib. in sense ‘like that of Psyche’, as in Psyche-knot (of hair), Psyche-mould, Psyche task. 1876 GEO. ELIOT Dan. Der. lxi, In the Psyche-mould of Mirah's frame there rested a fervid quality of emotion sometimes rashly supposed to require the bulk of a Cleopatra. 1888 A. R. DIEHL Two Thousand Words 170 Psyche knot, the style of wearing the hair in a projecting coil in the middle of the back of the head. 1895 S. B. KENNEDY in Outing (U.S.) Oct. 8/2 Do you think this Psyche knot suits the special cut of my features? 1901 Westm. Gaz. 28 May 2/4 After many Psyche tasks Fate-encumbered now unravelled, Hoping there's no more to do. 1904 Ibid. 30 Nov. 4/2, I am not quite sure I know what is ‘a Psyche knot’, which was what the lady's jet-black hair was transformed to. 1968 J. UPDIKE Couples v. 404 Her hair was pinned up in a psyche knot.

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com

Some Fun with Antiquated Hat Terms - Part Two: Renaissance Europe Through 1799

Some obscure and unusual words come to light while looking back at the history of hats and headdress. Having recently finished reading THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN (by Simon Winchester, HarperCollins 1998) about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, I thought it might be fun to explore the definitions and etymology of some of these ancient terms, most of which have all but disappeared from modern use. [I’ll breakup this project into three or four parts, so stay tuned.]

To qualify for inclusion below, the word must show up with a squiggly red line at Microsoft Word’s “spell check” tool. So here goes:

Ferroniere

[Fr. ferronnière, a frontlet; a coronet worn on the forehead: after Leonardo da Vinci's portrait La Belle Ferronnière.]

(See quot. 1960.)
1840 THACKERAY in Fraser's Mag. June 681/2 The sisters..with pink scarfs..and brass ferronières..were voted very charming. 1908 H. C. SMITH Jewellery xx. 172 This head ornament is known as the ferronière. 1960 H. HAYWARD Antique Coll. 117/1 Ferronière, a chain worn as an ornament encircling the head with a jewel in the centre.

Bongrace

Obs.
[a. F. bonne-grace ‘th' vppermost flap of the down-hanging taile of a French-hood (whence belike our Boon-grace)’ Cotgr.; f. bonne good, grace grace.]

1. A shade or curtain formerly worn on the front of women's bonnets or caps to protect the complexion from the sun; a sunshade. (See quot. 1617; the later one may consequently belong to 2.)
1530 PALSGR. 907 The bone grace, le moufflet. 1533 Pardoner & Fr. in Hazl. Dodsl. I. 203 Her bongrace which she ware, with her French hood, When she went out always for sun-burning. 1595 R. WILSON Pedlar's Proph. Bij, Fillets and bungraces. 1604 DEKKER King's Entert. 311 This boon-grace hee made of purpose to keepe his face from heate. 1617 MORYSON Itin. III. IV. i. 170 A French shadow of veluet to defend them from the Sunne, which our Gentle~women of old borrowed from the French, and called them Bonegraces, now altogether out of vse with us. 1636 DAVENANT Platon. Lovers Wks. (1673) 411 Had she been but old enough to wear a Bongrace.
fig. 1609 HEYWOOD Brit. Troy VI. civ. 137 A Grove through which the lake doth run, Making his bowes a Bon~grace from the Sun.
2. A broad-brimmed hat fitted to shade the face. arch. or Obs.
1606 HOLLAND Sueton. 75 A broad brim'd Hat [marg. or Bond-grace = petasatus] upon his head. 1638 Songs Costume (1849) 140 Straw hats shall be no more bongraces, From the bright sun to hide your faces. 1719 D'URFEY Pills (1872) IV. 107 Her Bongrace of wended Straw. 1815 SCOTT Guy M. iii, An old-fashioned bonnet called a bon-grace.
3. ‘Junk-fenders; for booming off obstacles from a ship's sides or bows’. Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.

Huke

Obs. exc. Hist.
[a. OF. huque, heuque a kind of cape with a hood; in med.L. huca (13th c. in Du Cange), MDu. hûke, hôike, heuke, Du. huik, MLG. hoike, LG. hoike, heuke, heike, hokke, hök, E.Fris. heike, heik', haike, hoike. Ulterior origin obscure. See also HAIK1.]

A kind of cape or cloak with a hood; ‘an outer garment or mantle worn by women and afterwards by men; also subsequently applied to a tight-fitting dress worn by both sexes’ (Fairholt Costume).
1415 in Nicolas Test. Vetust. I. 187, I will that all my hopolands [and] huykes not furred, be divided among the servants. 1418 E.E. Wills (1882) 37 Also a Hewk of grene and other melly parted. 1423 JAS. I Kingis Q. xlix, An huke sche had vpon hir tissew quhite. c1440 [see HAIK n.1]. a1529 SKELTON E. Rummyng 56 Her huke of Lyncole grene. 1530 PALSGR. 231/1 Hewke a garment for a woman, surquayne, froc. Ibid. 233/1 Huke. 1616 BULLOKAR, Huke, a Dutch attire couering the head, face, and all the body. a1626 BACON New Atl. (1627) 24 A messenger, in a rich Huke. a1657 LOVELACE Poems (1864) 210 Like dames i' th land of Luyck, He wears his everlasting huyck. 1694 Dunton's Ladies Dict. (N.), The German virgins..put on a streight or plain garment, such a one as they in some places call a huk. 1834 J. R. PLANCHÉ Brit. Costume 181. 1852 C. M. YONGE Cameos (1877) II. xxxvi. 370 When not in armour, she wore a huque, or close-fitting gown.
b. Applied to the Arab. haïk: see HAIK2.
1630 J. TAYLOR (Water P.) Wks. (N.), The richer sort [of women] doe weare a huicke, which is a rob of cloth or stuffe plated, and the upper part of it is gathered and sowed together in the forme of an English potlid, with a tassell on the top. 1660 F. BROOKE tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 269 (Cairo) They [ladies] go all as 'twere masked and covered with an Huke that hides their face.
Hence huke v. trans., to cover with or as with a huke; to veil, cloak.
1613 H. KING Halfe-pennyw. Wit (ed. 3) Ded. (N.), I will..throw some light vaile of spotlesse pretended well-meaning over it, to huke and mask it from publicke shame.

Lovelock

[f. LOVE n.1 + LOCK n.1]

A curl of a particular form worn by courtiers in the time of Elizabeth and James I; later, any curl or tress of hair of a peculiar or striking character.
1592 LYLY Midas III. ii. 43 Wil you haue..your loue-locke wreathed with a silken twist, or shaggie to fal on your shoulders? 1628 PRYNNE (title) The Vnlovelinesse of Love~lockes. 1840 MARRYAT Poor Jack i, Lovelocks, as the sailors term the curls which they wear on their temples. 1894 A. GRIFFITHS Secrets Prison Ho. II. IV. ii. 63 Bandoline, which she used in making love-locks to adorn her fore~head and her temples.
transf. 1886 MAXWELL GRAY Silence Dean Maitland I. i. 12 Each [cart-] horse wore his mane in love-locks.

Fontange

[Fr. fontange, f. Fontanges the territorial title of a mistress of Louis XIV.]

A tall head-dress worn in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
1689 SHADWELL Bury F. 11, What d'ye lack, Ladies? fine mazarine Hoods, Fontanges, Girdles. 1711 ADDISON Spect. No. 98 1 These old-fashioned Fontanges rose an Ell above the Head. 1883 F. G. STEPHENS Catal. Prints Brit. Mus. IV. 282 An ugly old one-eyed woman in a fontange.

Biggin

[a. F. béguin child's cap. See BEGUINE, note.]

1. A child's cap.
1530 PALSGR. 198/1 Byggen for a chyldes heed, beguyne. 1532 MORE Confut. Tindale Wks. 577/2. 1639 MASSINGER Unnat. Combat IV. ii, Would you have me Transform my hat to double clouts and biggings? 1755 Connoisseur No. 80 (1774) III. 71 Such a store of clouts, caps..biggens..as would set up a Lying-in Hospital. 1819 SCOTT Ivanhoe xxviii, My brain has been topsy-turvy..ever since the biggin was bound first round my head.

Cadogan

[Said to be from the name of the 1st Earl Cadogan (died 1726). See Littré, and N. & Q. 7th Ser. IV. 467, 492.]

A mode of knotting the hair behind the head.
c1780 B'NESS D'OBERKIRCH Mem. (1852) II. ix, The duchess of Bourbon had introduced at the court of Montbéliard..[the fashion] of cadogans, hitherto worn only by gentlemen.

Toupet

[a. F. toupet (tup ) tuft of hair, esp. over the forehead, deriv. (in form dim.) of OF. toup, top, tup, tuft of hair, foliage, etc.; ad. *LG. topp- = OHG. zopf top, tuft, summit; cf. OFris. top tuft, top, ONorse toppr top, tuft, lock of hair: see TOP n.1]

1. = TOUPEE.
1729 Art of Politicks 10 Think we that modern words eternal are? Toupet, and Tompion, Cosins, and Colmar Hereafter will be called by some plain man A Wig, a Watch, a Pair of Stays, a Fan. 1818 SCOTT Rob Roy vi, These fadeurs, which every gentleman with a toupet thinks himself obliged to recite to an unfortunate girl. 1863 Cornh. Mag. VII. 395 Wigs are dangerous unless frankly avowed. A toupet may easily escape detection.
b. transf. = TOUPEE b. Obs.
1728 FIELDING Love in Sev. Masques Epil., From you then ye toupets he hopes defence. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa Wks. 1883 VII. 495 A couple of brocaded or laced-waistcoated toupets..with sour screwed up half-cocked faces.
2. The forelock of a horse or other animal (obs.); a thick head of hair (in quot., of a Negro).
1797 Sporting Mag. X. 295 The Tuft or Toupet, that part of the mane which lies between the two ears. 1834 SOUTHEY Doctor iii. (1862) 5 Some of the inhabitants of Congo make a secret fob in their woolly toupet.
3. attrib., as toupet-coxcomb, -man, -wig; toupet-titmouse, the Crested Titmouse.
1731 FIELDING Mod. Husb. I. ix, I meet with nothing but a parcel of toupet coxcombs, who plaster up their brains upon their periwigs. 1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa (1811) VII. vi. 35 No mere toupet-man; but all manly. a1784 PENNANT Arct. Zool. (1785) II. 423 Titmous. Toupet..feathers on the head long, which it erects occasionally into a pointed crest, like a toupet. 1884 E. YATES Rec. & Exper. II. 238 A carefully arranged toupet-wig.
Hence toupeted nonce-wd. ( tu p t d, tu pe d) a., wearing a toupet.
1903 Smart Set IX. 53/2 We go in to dinner with the toupeted colonels.

Kevenhuller

Obs.
[f. the name of the Austrian general, Andr. von Khevenhüller (1683-1744).]

a. attrib. Applied to a high cock given to a broad-brimmed hat worn in the middle of the 18th c. (see Fairholt Costume in Eng. (1860) 299); hence also with hat. b. absol. A cock of this form; a hat cocked in this fashion.
1746 Brit. Mag. 309 A laced Hat pinched into what our Beaux have learnt to call the Kevenhuller Cock. 1750 COVENTRY Pompey Litt. II. iv. (1785) 58/1 Jockey-boots, Khevenhullar-hats, and Coach-whips. 1753 Proc. Commission of Common Sense (Fairholt I. 377) Is not the Dettingen cock forgotten? the noble Kevenhuller discouraged? 1762 Lond. Chron. XI. Chapter of Hats (Planchè), Hats are now worn, upon an average, six inches and three-fifths broad in the brim and cocked between Quaker and Kevenhuller.

Nivernois

Now hist.
[< the title of Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, Duc de Nivernois (1716-98), and French ambassador to London 1762-3. Nivernois (now Nivernais) was the name of a former province of central France with Nevers as its capital; cf. French Nivernois inhabitant of Nevers (1671), inhabitant of Nivernais (1721), characterestic of Nivernais or Nevers (1840).]

A. adj. In the style of a Nivernois hat (see sense B.).
1764 MRS. HARRIS in Private Lett. 1st Ld. Malmesbury I. 114 The common chapeau bras cocked in the Nivernois style. 1766 C. ANSTEY New Bath Guide X. ii. 68 What with my Nivernois' Hat can compare? 1960 C. W. CUNNINGTON et al. Dict. Eng. Costume 147/1 Nivernois hat, a tricorne hat with broad spreading brim rolled over a flat crown; known as the ‘Nivernois cock’.
B. n. A three-cornered hat with a wide, rolled brim and a low crown, fashionable in the late eighteenth cent.
1765 in C. W. Cunnington et al. Dict. Eng. Costume (1960) 147/1 He wears this large umbrella-like hat. This is the Nivernois. 1770 E. PRATT Art of dressing Hair 8 For they to shining Balls the Camp prefer'd, Nor e'er of Powder and Pomatum heard, Of silken Suits, or Nivernois genteel. 1868 Belgravia Ann. 29/1 Her little Nivernois three-cornered laced hat, with a ‘blaze’ in front of it, was tucked jauntily under her left arm. 1969 R. T. WILCOX Dict. Costume (1970) 248/1 Nivernois, a diminutive tricorne worn by the English Macaronies with the cadogan wig in the 1770's.

Dormeuse

[Fr.; fem. of dormeur sleeper, applied to articles convenient for sleeping, f. dormir to sleep.]

1. A hood or nightcap. Obs.
1734 MRS. DELANY Life & Corr. (1861) I. 479, I have sent you..a dormeuse patron. 1753 Let. Mrs. Dewes in Life & Corr. 260 She had not yet been able to get her dormouse.
2. A travelling-carriage adapted for sleeping in.
1808 M. WILMOT Jrnl. 16 Aug. (1934) III. 363 We..set off in the Dormeuse 4 horses abreast & two before. 1825 VISC. S. DE REDCLIFFE in S. L. Poole Life (1888) I. 357 The two dark green carriages a Dormeuse and Britchka, which you saw..at Windsor. 1841 LYTTON Nt. & Morn. (1851) 216 A dormeuse and four drove up to the inn door to change horses.
3. A kind of couch or settee.
1865 OUIDA Strathmore I. vi. 94 (Stanf.) He lay back in a dormeuse before the fire.

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com

Some Fun with Antiquated Hat Terms – Part One: Ancient Greece through Medieval European Helmets

Some obscure and unusual words come to light while looking back at the history of hats and headdress. Having recently finished reading THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN (by Simon Winchester, HarperCollins 1998) about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, I thought it might be fun to explore the definitions and etymology of some of these ancient terms, most of which have all but disappeared from modern use. [I’ll breakup this project into three or four parts, so stay tuned.]

To qualify for inclusion below, the word must show up with a squiggly red line at Microsoft Word’s “spell check” tool. So here goes:

Petasus

Forms: 15- petasus, 18- petasos.

[< classical Latin petasus broad-brimmed hat worn by travellers and by the god Mercury (or Hermes), and its etymon Hellenistic Greek < ancient Greek to spread out (see PETAL n.) + - , suffix forming nouns. Cf. Middle French petasus (1579; French pétase).]

A low-crowned broad-brimmed hat worn, esp. for travelling, in ancient Greece; (Classical Mythol.) a hat of this sort which the god Hermes (or Mercury) is frequently represented as wearing. Also: the brimless, winged hat which Hermes is represented as wearing in later art.

1577 J. GRANGE Golden Aphroditis 89 Mercurie that craftie theeuish & iugling god with a Petasus on his head & a Caduceus at his side. 1601 B. JONSON Fountaine of Selfe-love V. vii. 47 A Petasus, or Mercuriall Hat. 1601 B. JONSON in R. Chester Loves Martyr 178 Though he would steale his sisters Pegasus, And rifle him; or pawne his Petasus. 1636 King & Queenes Entert. Richmond (1903) sig. C 1, From thence comes forth a Captaine attired in a Souldiers habit, after the old Brittish fashion, taken from the Romans, which was a short Coat reaching almost to his knees made in scales, and on his head a Petasus. 1692 O. WALKER Greek & Rom. Hist. I. vi. 69 Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, hath his Caduceus and Petasus. 1742 J. ARBUTHNOT Tables Antient 145 The Petasus was a sort of travelling Cap. 1842 J. YATES in Proc. Philol. Soc. (1854) 1 9 The dress..consists of boots,..a scarf.., and a petasus tied under the chin. 1880 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 1 174 In the second instance, Hermes wears the petasos, and this sufficiently indicates the god Hermes. 1934 Antiquity 8 165 He wears a petasos on his head. 1992 W. J. FRIEDLANDER Golden Wand of Med. I. App. 161 He [sc. Hermes Trismegistus] is an older, bearded man, fully clothed without petasus, talaria or a caduceus

Tutulus

Archæol.

[L. tutulus.]

A Roman head-dress formed by plaiting the hair in a cone above the forehead, worn esp. by the Flamen and his wife.

1753 CHAMBERS Cycl. Supp., Tutulus, among the Romans, a manner of dressing the hair, by gathering it up on the forehead into the form of a tower... Tutulus likewise signified a woollen cap with a high top. 1816 J. DALLAWAY Statuary & Sculpt. vi. 321 The head-dress is that of the wife of a pontifex,..the tutulus or top of the hair is rolled with a lace round the crown of the head. 1891 FARRAR Darkn. & Dawn xxvi, Domitia Lepida, whose tutulus, or conical head~dress, it was the exclusive task of a slave-maiden to adorn.

Pileus

[< classical Latin p leus, variant of pilleus felt cap (also p leum, pilleum, neuter), of unknown origin. Cf. ancient Greek felt, felt cap.
It is not clear whether the masculine or the neuter represents the original form of the Latin word. Forms with pill- are recorded in inscriptions and early MSS. Forms with p l- may show the influence of ancient Greek (which may also have prompted the masculine form in Latin), though both words are of unknown origin and may be loan words.]

1. Classical Hist. A felt cap without a brim. Also in extended use.
Freq. identified with the cap of liberty (see cap n.1 4g) given to Roman slaves on emancipation, and hence sometimes adopted as a symbol of liberty.

1663 E. WATERHOUSE Fortescutus Illustratus 568 The reason why Homer makes no mention of Pileus, nor any of the antient Statues are seen other then bare headed. 1737 G. ENGLAND Enq. Morals Ancients 262 A Cap of Liberty on his Head, such as the Slaves who were made free at Rome us'd to wear, call'd Pileus. 1776 J. ADAMS Familiar Lett. (1876) 210 For the seal, he proposes..on one side..Liberty with her pileus. 1835 Mechanics' Mag. 10 Jan. 256/2 It is wholly at variance with classic authority to place the Pileus or Liberty Cap on the head of the figure representing Liberty. 1889 G. GISSING Nether World I. xii. 252 To-day will the slaves of industrialism don the pileus. 1957 J. BISHOP Day Christ Died (1959) 305 He had fashioned it in the shape of a pileus, a Roman hat shaped in oval form, usually made of felt. 1992 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 96 494/2 The medallion is lighted from the front... Vulcan wears a white pileus.

2. Mycol. The cap of a basidiomycete, an expanded structure at the top of the stipe that bears the hymenium (gills, etc.) on its undersurface.

1760 J. LEE Introd. Bot. II. xxxi. 151 Agaricus, with the Pileus on a Stipes. 1821 W. J. HOOKER Flora Scotica II. 22 Pileus deep buff, bluntly conical. 1875 A. W. BENNETT & W. T. T. DYER tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 249 The naked pilei are originally gymnocarpous. 1911 H. G. WELLS Country of Blind xvii. 249 The purple pileus caught his eye... Then he saw that it was the purple top of a fungus. 1997 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 84 981 Two fruiting bodies of Archaeomarasmius were found. One consists of a complete pileus with stipe.

3. Ornithol. = PILEUM n. Obs. rare 0.
1890 Cent. Dict., Pileus, in ornith., same as pileum.

Wimple

[Late OE. wimpel = (M)LG., (M)Du. wimpel, OHG. wimpal veil, banner (MHG., G. wimpel streamer, pennon), ON. vimpill (Sw., Da. vimpel from LG.), whence OF. guimple (mod. F. guimpe), of which the variant wimple coincided with the native form. Ultimate origin uncertain.
It is doubtful whether the senses provisionally placed together here and under the vb. belong all to the same word. In branch II there may be an onomatop ic element; for formation and meaning cf. dimple, rimple, rumple, wrimple.]

I. 1. A garment of linen or silk formerly worn by women, so folded as to envelop the head, chin, sides of the face, and neck: now retained in the dress of nuns. Also gen. a veil.

Used loosely in early glossaries as a rendering of L. anabola, cyclas, peplum, ricinum.
a1100 Aldhelm Gloss. I. 4296 (Napier 112) Cyclade, .i. ueste, wimple. a1100 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 107/37 Ricinum, winpel uel orl. Ibid. 125/8 Anabola, winpel. c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 163 Hire winpel wit o er maked eleu mid saffran. c1240 Ancr. R. 420 (MS. C), Sum sei æt hit limpe to ene wummon cundeliche forte were wimpel. c1250 Meid. Maregrete xlvii, oru e mitte of ih christ, wid her wempel ho hin bond. 1297 R. GLOUC. (Rolls) 6941 Hire bodi wi a mantel, a wimpel [v.r. whympel] aboute hire heued. c1374 CHAUCER Troylus II. 110 Do a-woy oure wimpil & schew oure face bare. c1386 Prol. 151 Ful semyly hir wympul pynched was. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 601/43 Peplum, a wynpul. c1425 WYNTOUN Cron. IX. xxv. 2992 Hyre hayre in wompyll arayande. c1440 Gesta Rom. lxix. 317 The emperesse hydde hire face with a wympill, for she wolde not ben y-knowe. 1513 DOUGLAS Æneis I. vii. 115 To ask supple, with thaim ane womple bair thai, With handis betand ther breistis by the way. c1530 Crt. Love 1102 And eke the nonnes, with vaile and wimple plight. 1560 Bible (Genev.) Isa. iii. 22 The costelie apparel and the vailes, and the wimpels, and the crisping pinnes. 1805 SCOTT Last Minstr. V. xvii, White was her whimple, and her veil. 1819 Ivanhoe xlii, Her flowing wimple of black cypress. 1879 WALFORD Londoniana II. 247 Three nuns with veils and whimples.
transf. 1615 CROOKE Body of Man 123 A certaine smooth and slippery veyle or wimple is substrated. 1861 A. AUSTIN in Temple Bar III. 472 Graves are the sheltering wimples Against Life's rain.

Ventail

[a. OF. ventaille, -taile, ventalle (mod.F. ventail masc., = OProv. ventalha, It. ventaglia), f. vent wind, air. Hence also MHG. vin-, finteile, vintale. A purely English variant is AVENTAIL.
As the sense of ‘breathing-place’ appears to be inapplicable to the earliest use of the word (see sense 1) in French and English, the name may originally have been given to the piece of armour from a real or fancied resemblance to some other article so designated. Other senses of the OF. word (and of the related forms ventele, ventail, and vental) are fan, vane (of a windmill), sluice, shutter, leaf (of a folding door or picture). In OF. romances the ventaille is freq. mentioned as covering the heart or breast: cf. Chaucer Clerk's Tale 1148.]

1. A piece of armour protecting the neck, upon which the helmet fitted; a neck-piece. Obs.

a1330 Roland & V. 863 His ventail he gan vn-lace & smot of his heued in e place. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 92 His helme was of so michel mi t, Was neuer man ouer-comen in fi t at hadde it on his ventayle. a1400 Sir Perc. 1722 He hitt hym evene one the nekk-bane, Thurgh ventale and pesane. c1400 Laud Troy Bk. 14375 Her helmes were on her ventayles sperde. c1450 LOVELICH Grail XIV. 33 Helmes, hawberkes, & ventaylles also, Alle to the Grownde he dyde hem go.
a1400 Sqr. lowe Degre 222 Your basenette shall be burnysshed bryght, Your ventall shalbe well dyght, With starres of gold it shall be set.

2. The lower movable part of the front of a helmet, as distinct from the vizor; latterly, the whole movable part including the vizor.

c1400 Destr. Troy 7030 The duke with a dynt derit hym agayn, at the viser & the ventaile voidet hym fro. c1400 Anturs of Arth. xxxii, Then he auaylet vppe his viserne fro his ventalle. c1470 Gol. & Gaw. 867 He braidit vp his ventaill, That closit wes clene. a1533 LD. BERNERS Huon cxxiv. 448 Vnder the ventayle of his helme the terys of water fell downe fro his eyen. 1590 SPENSER F.Q. III. ii. 24 Through whose bright ventayle..His manly face..lookt foorth. 1600 FAIRFAX Tasso VI. xxvi, He ventall vp so hie, that he descride Her goodly visage, and her beauties pride. 1802 JAMES Milit. Dict., Ventail, that part of a helmet which is made to lift up. 1865 SIR J. K. JAMES Tasso XX. xii, Thro' the barred ventayle his flushed features shone. [1869 BOUTELL Arms & Armour viii. 127 This piece, called the mesail, or mursail,..but more generally known in England as the ventaile, or visor, was pierced for both sight and breathing.] 1906 S. HEATH Effigies in Dorset 10 Some~times with a movable ‘ventaille’ or visor.
b. One of the vents or air-holes of this. Obs. 1
1470-85 MALORY Arthur X. lx. 516 The blood brast oute at the ventayls of his helmet.

Sallet

Antiq.

[a. F. salade, ad. Sp. celada or It. celata, believed to represent L. cæl ta (sc. cassis or galea), (a helmet) ornamented with engraving. Cf. MDu. salade, sallade, salla.
The L. adj. has not been found in this elliptical use. Cf. ‘loricæ galeæque aeneæ, cælatæ opere Corinthio’ (Cicero).]

1. In mediæval armour, a light globular headpiece, either with or without a vizor, and without a crest, the lower part curving outwards behind.

c1440 Eng. Conq. Irel. iv. 11 (MS. Rawl.), Ham-Selfe wel wepenyd with haubergeons, and bryght Salletis and sheldys. 1465 MARG. PASTON in P. Lett. II. 189 Imprimis, a peyr brygandyrs, a salet, a boresper [etc.]. 1480 CAXTON Chron. Eng. cclv. (1482) 331 He toke syr vmfreys salade and his brigantyns..and also his gylt spores and arayd hym lyke a lord. c1537 Thersytes 55, I wolde have a sallet to were on my hed, Whiche under my chyn with a thonge red Buckeled shall be. 1585 T. WASHINGTON tr. Nicholay's Voy. IV. xxviii. 146b, On their heads [they] hadde sallets of leather. 1593 SHAKES. 2 Hen. VI, IV. x. 9 Many a time but for a Sallet, my braine-pan had bene cleft with a brown Bill. 1594 R. ASHLEY tr. Loys le Roy 113b, The men that were heauily armed had a salade, which couered their head, and came downe as far as their shoulders. a1600 Floddan F. ii. (1664) 12 Some of a share can shortly make A sallate for to save his pate. 1786 GROSE Anc. Armour 11 The Salade, Salet, or Celate. Father Daniel defines a Salet to be a sort of light casque, without a crest, sometimes having a visor, and being sometimes without one. 1824 MEYRICK Ant. Armour III. Gloss., Salett,..a light head piece sometimes worn by the cavalry, but generally by the infantry and archers. It..was generally a steel cap greatly resembling the morian. 1844 JAMES Agincourt II. v. 109 He caused his archers to put on the cuirasses and salades. 1888 STEVENSON Black Arrow 4 Armed with sword and spear, a steel salet on his head, a leather jack upon his body.
b. jocularly referred to as a measure for wine.
1600 HEYWOOD 1st Pt. Edw. IV (1613) Cj, Make a proclamation..That..Sacke be sold by the Sallet.
c. transf. Headpiece, head. nonce-use.
1652 C. B. STAPYLTON Herodian 56 When Wine was got into his drunken Sallat.

Armet

[a. F. armet, also in OF. armette, dim. of arme.]

A kind of helmet introduced about the middle of the 15th century, in place of the basinet. It consisted of a globular iron cap, spreading out with a large hollowed projection over the back of the neck, and protected in front by the visor, beaver, and gorget. (Boutell.)

1507 Justes May & June 87 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 124 They spared not cors, armyt, nor yet vambrace. 1577 HOLINSHED Chron. III. 853/1 Foure headpieces called armites. 1795 SOUTHEY Joan of Arc Wks. IX. 279 Smote on his neck, his neck Unfenced, for he in haste aroused had cast An armet on.

Burganet

Obs. exc. Hist.

Also 6 burguenet, (burgant), 6-7 burgenet, 6-9 burganet, 9 bourginot, -goinette. [ad. OF. bourguignotte, app. f. Bourgogne Burgundy.]

a. A very light casque, or steel cap, for the use of the infantry, especially pikemen. b. A helmet with a visor, so fitted to the gorget or neck-piece, that the head could be turned without exposing the neck.

[1598 BARRET Theor. Warres Gloss. 249 Burgonet, a French word, is a certaine kind of head-peece, either for foote or horsemen, couering the head, and part of the face and cheeke.]
1563-87 FOXE A. & M. (1596) 1083/1 I was page to a foot~man, carying after him his pike and burganet. 1570-87 HOLINSHED Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 255 His burguenet beaten into his head. 1592 GREENE Upst. Court. Wks. (Grosart) XI. 235 With Burgants to resist the stroke of a Battleaxe. 1611 SPEED Hist. Gt. Brit. VIII. v. (1632) 407 On their heads they all wore guilt Burgenets. 1796 SOUTHEY Joan VII. 296 A massy burgonet..helming his head. 1825 J. H. WIFFEN Tasso VII. xc, The glistening burganet that veils His brows. 1834 J. R. PLANCHÉ Brit. Costume 280 A morion and bourginot of the same period. 1852 D. MOIR Tomb de Bruce v, In the hall hung the target and burgonet rusting.
fig. 1606 SHAKES. Ant. & Cl. I. v. 24 [Antony] The demy Atlas of this Earth, the Arme And Burganet of men.

Morion

Armour. Now hist.

[< Middle French morion light helmet (1542) and its etymon Spanish morrión (1605; 1570 in form murrón), prob. < morra crown of the head (perh. ult. < the same Romance base as MORAINE n. and the first element of MORFOUND v.). Cf. Italian morione (1559), Portuguese morrião (1619), both prob. from Spanish.
With the 16th-cent. form morlion cf. Dutch morlioen, morlion (see MORILLION n.).
With sense 2 cf. French morion punishment inflicted on soldiers (1605), so called in allusion to the hat suspended at the end of the shaft of the halberd which held the soldier while the punishment was inflicted. In French the word appears to have been in military rather than naval use, and to have denoted a number of blows with a pikestaff or the butt of a musket.]

1. A kind of brimmed helmet resembling a hat, without a beaver or visor, worn chiefly by foot soldiers in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Certain varieties are sometimes distinguished (esp. by modern historians) according to shape, as comb (also cockscomb) morion, Spanish (also pear-shaped) morion, etc.

1547 Inventory Possessions Henry VIII in Archaeologia (1888) 51 272 Itm mliiijxx ix white Murrions. 1557 Act 4 & 5 Philip & Mary c. 2 §2 One Murrien or Sallet,..and one Steele Cappe or Sculle. 1563 in Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1857) I. 141 A shirt of mayle wth the hed peace or murren thereunto belonginge. 1590 Inventory Sir T. Ramsey in Archaeologia (1866) 40 331 Itm. xvij Spanish morrians at 2s. 6d. per pece. Itm. x come morrians at 16d. 1592 C'TESS OF PEMBROKE tr. R. Garnier Antonius iv. sig. N3, The vseles morion shall On crooke hang by the wall. c1600 Diurnal of Occurrents (1833) 212 Ane greit number of hagbittis, corslattis and mirriounis, togedder with some vyne [etc.]. c1600 Hist. & Life James VI (1804) 137 In the shipp was funden..twa hundrethe murreownes. 1601 P. HOLLAND tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 480 The people of Thracia..do with Ivie..garnish the heads of their launces,..their mourrons also and targuets. 1622 F. MARKHAM Five Decades Epist. of Warre I. ix. §3. 34 A Spanish Morian..bound downe with lined eare-plates vnderneath his chinne. 1688 R. HOLME Acad. Armory (1905) III. xix. 166/1 The Italians call such caps, a Morion, and we from them a Murrian. 1700 DRYDEN Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite III, in Fables 65 Polish'd Steel that cast the View aside, And Crested Morions, with their Plumy Pride. 1808 SCOTT Marmion I. ix, The soldiers of the guard With musquet, pike, and morion. 1834 Gentleman's Mag. 96 158 The combatants' headpieces are different in form; one has a rim like a morion, and much resembles a modern hat. 1889 ‘M. TWAIN’ Connecticut Yankee ii. 38 Along the walls stood men-at-arms, in breastplate and morion, with halberds for their only weapon. 1907 Q. Rev. Jan. 83 It belongs to the school of poetry in which helmets are called morions. 1984 G. JENNINGS Journeyer 370 For a crown, he wore a simple gold morion helmet.

Cabasset

Obs. rare.

[Fr.; dim. of cabas basket, panier, etc.]

A kind of small helmet.

1622 PEACHAM Compl. Gentl. III. (1634) 150 Keyes, lockes, buckles, cabassets or morians, helmets and the like. 1874 BOUTELL Arms & Arm. ix. 162.

Cointise

arch.

[a ME. (= the OF.) form of QUAINTISE, ‘quaint device, ingenious ornament’, appropriated to a special sense by modern writers on ancient costume, historical novelists, etc. (Some Dicts. have an erroneous form cointoise.)]

An elegant or fanciful dress, symbolical or ornamental apparel; esp. the pendant scarf worn on ladies' head-dresses, and also affixed to the jousting-helmets of knights, as a ‘favour’. See QUAINTISE.

1834 J. R. PLANCHÉ Brit. Costume 93 This latter is called a quintis or cointise, a name given to a peculiarly fashioned gown or tunic of that day. Ibid. 94 The scarf afterwards worn round the crest of the helmet was called a cointise. 1843 JAMES Forest Days (1847) 181 The beautiful scarfs, called cointises, then lately introduced.

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com

Don't Tell Me About The Person Who Wears Many Hats

For obvious reasons (to those of you who are regular readers of the HAT BLOG), I subscribe to the Google News Alert Service where all articles with the word “hat” or “hats” in newspaper and magazine titles are regularly assembled by Google and forwarded to my email.   But instead of staying abreast of the latest and greatest hat news, what I’ve learned is that every Tom, Dick and Harry journalist (and every Tina, Donna, and Henrietta journalist for that matter) title their articles with the same hackneyed cliché: “_________ (fill in the blank) Wears Many Hats”.  I guess each one of these writers got a bee in their bonnet and believed that he or she came up with just a great little title for their article about an individual whose job or life is multifaceted (welcome to life in the 21^st Century).  I’m here to let them know that their Eureka moment is old hat.  They can hang their hat on the fact that their use of this metaphor is all hat and no cattle. It would be a feather in their cap if they’d hold on to their hats and try something more daring.  I for one would tip my hat to the effort.  I’d keep my thoughts about this under my hat, but if I don’t let these journalists know that they are talking through their hats, who will?  So, I come hat in hand to let you know, that you don’t need to throw your hat in the ring with those who believe this is a unique article title.  I’ll eat my hat if I’m wrong.  I know you must think that I’m mad as a hatter, but I’ve particularly lost my patience for those of you who have the hat trick in using this heading.  When your editors catch wind of it, you’ll either need to pass the hat or change careers – try hard hats. 

Fred Belinsky

http://www.VillageHatShop.com

HATS AND CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

There are dozens of children’s books where a hat (or hats) plays a central role in the story.  Here’s a partial list -- all of which are in The Village Hat Shop’s books on hats collection:  [Note: For a short synopsis of each book below as well as the name of the equally important (at least) illustrator, click this article’s title above.]   

JENNIE’S HAT by Ezra Jack Keats

WHEN EVERYBODY WORE A HAT by William Steig

THE HAT by Tomi Ungerer

THE CASE OF THE MISSING HAT Starring Jim Henson’s Muppets by Gregory Williams

BLUE HAT, GREEN HAT by Sandra Boynton

THE 500 HATS OF BARTHOLOMEW CUBBINS by Dr. Seuss

MADELINE AND THE BAD HAT by Ludwig Bemelmans

THE CHRISTMAS HAT by A.J. Wood

HATS OFF TO JOHN STETSON by Mary Blount Christian

ABE LINCOLN’S HAT by Martha Brenner

KATHY’S HATS by Trudy Krisher

TWELVE HATS FOR LENA by Karen Katz

THE QUANGLE WANGLE’S HAT by Edward Lear

LITTLE RED COWBOY HAT by Susan Lowell

THE SCARECROW’S HAT by Ken Brown

MILO’S HAT TRICK by Jon Agee

MISS HUNNICUTT’S HAT by Jeff Brumbeau

WHO WAS THE WOMAN WHO WORE THE HAT? by Nancy Patz

THE CAT IN THE HAT by Dr. Seuss

THE CAT IN THE HAT COMES BACK by Dr. Seuss

RICHARD SCARRY’S MR. FRUMBLE’S BIGGEST HAT FLAP BOOK EVER by Richard Scarry

ZOE’S HATS: A BOOK OF COLORS AND PATTERNS by Sharon Lane Holm

WHO TOOK THE FARMER’S HAT? By Joan L. Nodset

WHO’S UNDER THE HAT by Sarah Weeks

THE MAGIC HAT by Mem Fox

MISS FANNIE’S HAT by Jan Karon

CASEY’S NEW HAT by Tricia Gardella

EL SOMBRERO DEL TIO NACHO/UNCLE NACHO’S HAT by Harriet Rohmer

THE HAT by Jan Brett

MR GEORGE AND THE RED HAT by Stephen Heigh

MY LUCKY HAT by Kevin O’Malley

AUNT FLOSSIE’S HAT (AND CRAB CAKES LATER) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard

Why are there so many children’s books about hats?  Those of you who are regular readers of the HAT BLOG or the “Hat Information and Resources” section of VillageHatShop.com may have an inkling where I am about to go.  Yes, this is in fact another example of a theme that runs throughout the blog and the site, i.e. hats matter.  Hats are cultural icons.  Hats sit prominently and significantly on the top of one’s head.  Hats are a bridge to history.  Hats transform the wearer.  Hats, as a symbol, can be simple and complex at the same time. Hats are fun.  As an object to revolve a story around, a hat is a perfect fit.  Let’s take a smattering of examples:

Hats as a bridge to learning about history and as a file cabinet for important letters and papers: ABE LINCOLN’S HAT.

Hats as head covering for chemotherapy patients and as an object helping to sustain hope: KATHY’S HATS.

Hat (“Bad Hat” specifically) as metaphor for a person: MADELINE AND THE BAD HAT.

Hat as superhero: THE HAT (Ungerer).

Hat as a valuable item for barter: THE SCARECROWS HAT.

Hat as an eccentric and highly individual fashion statement: MISS HUNNICUTT’S HAT. 

Hat as a good luck charm: MY LUCKY HAT.

Hat as an article spurring recall and story telling: MISS FANNIE’S HAT and AUNT FLOSSIE’S HATS (AND CRAB CAKES LATER). 

Hat as an old friend and companion and as a metaphor for change: UNCLE NACHO’S HAT/EL SOMBRERO DEL TIO NACHO.

Granted, I am guilty of an a priori bias to infuse headwear with a high degree of symbolic significance, cache, cultural value, and the like (I’ve got to justify my existence somehow for god’s sake), and yet who can argue with its validity?  Clearly, writers and artists from Seuss to Keats to Bemelmans to Scarry et al. who don’t share my self-interested prejudice, still find this relevance in hats.   

But, I believe, the proliferation of the hat in children’s literature is more than all this.  Parenting in modern America can feel like an out of control merry-go-round.  The drumbeat of media messages to buy the right toys, infuse your home with the right music [Mozart] so as to promote brain development, commit to the right “play group”, enroll the child in the right pre-school (that promises to prepare your kid for the Ivy League), treading through the ubiquitous disingenuity (politicians and advertisers spinning, lying, and double-speaking) and deciding when and what to expose your innocent to the modern world, rampant commercialism (don’t buy anything except a hat), war – is it any wonder why a parent is attracted to a simple story that revolves around a simple honest object that connotes a simpler time.  Hat as nostalgic icon – yes, that too.   But alas, more than nostalgia - for crying out loud, the parent understandably wants to take her kid off that crazy modern merry-go-round.  The parent has an epiphany -- don’t heap all this adult nonsense and anxiety upon my kid –– I’ll buy a little book and read about a hat.  This is a good thing to do in our hyper-complex 21^st Century -- it’s in fact good for the soul. 

[Keep an eye open for “DEEP HATS “ – coming soon to the HAT BLOG.]

Fred Belinsky

http://VillageHatShop.com

The Stetson Hats Logo and THE CROSSING

This passage is from page 98 of Cormac McCarthy’s THE CROSSING, “… and he drank from the canteen and poured the rest of the water into the crown of his hat and watered the horse out of the hat and …”.  Now take a look at the Stetson Hats Logo.  The uninitiated reader can perhaps begin to appreciate the intimate relationship between a cowboy, his horse, and his hat.

Fred Belinsky

http://VillageHatShop.com  

MORE ON HATS AND CORMAC MCCARTHY

After ALL THE PRETTY HORSES (see previous post), the Border Trilogy continues with THE CROSSING.  In the book’s early going, sixteen-year-old Billy Parham visits an eccentric old Mexican man who is rumored to be a brujo.  Billy seeks this man’s advise regarding the ways of wolves as Billy has been stymied in his attempts to trap a wolf who has wandered into New Mexico from Mexico.  As Billy is helping the old man rise up from his bed, McCarthy writes “The boy almost put his hat on the bed but he caught himself.”  Now what is that supposed to mean, you may ask.  Perhaps some western readers of McCarthy may know the reference here, but for rest of you, the HAT BLOG comes to the rescue. 

Hats on a bed are back luck - not only bad luck, but specifically the kind of bad luck that this Mexican man may be particularly susceptible to.  Here is what Texas Bix Bender writes in HATS AND THE COWBOYS WHO WEAR THEM, 1994, Gibbs-Smith:  “Seems the expression comes from way back when people believed in evil spirits – other than the ones you drink.  These evil spirits lived in the hair.  This probably came from static electricity in the air crackling and popping when you came in and took off your hat.  So, the idea was, don’t lay your hat where you’re gonna lay your head ‘cause evil spirits are spilling outta the hat.  It doesn’t make any sense.  But then, superstitions seldom do.”

So there you have it - why Billy caugth himself before putting his hat on the bed.

Fred Belinsky

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