bloomers and cardigans

The term "bloomers" to mean an article of women’s clothing isn't used much these days. Amelia Bloomer was a 19-century Women’s Rights activist.

She ran a newspaper, Lily , that changed the way women viewed themselves and encouraged women to stand up for their rights which included and included radical dress reform.  

In those days, women wore restrictive corsets and dresses fitted with huge skirts and Amelia championed a new style of clothing for women. The baggy trousers known as pantaloons was a style she campaigned for and they became known as "bloomers."

"Bloomer" dress of the 1850s

The knitted garment known as the cardigan is still used today. Cardigans are open-fronted sweaters with variations. Most have buttons but there are ones that are tied and worn like a robe. There are also ones with zippers and newer fashion trend with no buttons or zipper and hanging open.

The clothing word originates from James Brudenell, an Earl and military hero who fought in the Crimean War and led the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Fighting in a harsh Russian winter, Brudenell used his own money to get his soldiers knitted woolen waistcoats. 

So shouldn't they be called "brudenells?"  Not a very catchy name. But he was the Earl of Cardigan, so that was what they became known as in that time and still today. 

Cardigan CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

It Is Eponyms Week: Dunce and Boycott

Eponyms can be a discovery, invention, place, etc., that is named (or thought to be named) after a person. It is a mid-19th century word coming from the Greek epōnumos (given as a name, or giving one's name to someone or something) from epi  "upon" + onoma "name."

I have written about a number of examples of eponyms before and this week we'll add a few more.

Don’t feel like a dunce for not knowing that this word is an eponym. I didn't know until recently. Oddly enough, it is named after a very intelligent man. John Duns Scotus was a philosopher, linguist and theologian in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. His metaphysical teachings lived on with followers who long after his death were known as Dunsmen or Duns.

During the Renaissance, the Duns were considered a kind of crazy group and Duns Scotus' teachings fell out of favor. They often wore pointed hats because Scotus thought the hats could be a funnel for knowledge. The hats, and the Duns themselves, became representative of idiocy, and soon the terms “dunce” and “dunce cap” were used to describe any fools or misbehaving children.

I also would not have thought that the verb boycott (meaning to abstain from using, as in "boycotting a product or company") came from a person's name. Charles Boycott (like Duns Scotus) would not be thrilled to see his name live on in the current usage. He was an unscrupulous landlord in the late 19th century. He was known for charging exorbitant rents to his tenant farmers and evicting them if they couldn’t pay. As a result, people avoided renting from him. Boycott was boycotted!

Motley Crue

Mötley Crüe playing at a Sweden rock festival in 2012.

MÖTLEY CRÜE seems like a good band name for an origin story. You may have heard the expression a "motley-looking crew" not referring to the band. In fact, there were motley crews on board ships a long time before there was a band with that name. 

Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. 

Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums worldwide with seven platinum or multi-platinum certifications, nine Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, 22 Top 40 mainstream rock hits, and six Top 20 pop singles. 1989's Dr. Feelgood is Mötley Crüe's only album to reach number one.

The band experienced several short-term lineup changes in the 1990s and 2000s, including Lee's departure in 1999 and return in 2004. Their current lineup has been the same as the original since then.

 

The band members maintained and advertised hedonistic lifestyles and androgynous personae. Considered to be hard rock and heavy metal on their first two albums, Too Fast for Love (1981) and Shout at the Devil (1983), with their third album, Theatre of Pain (1985), they were part of the early glam metal category.

"Motley" means "of great variety." It was once used to describe the appearance of a court jester for the many-colored outfits. A "motley crew" of sailors would be one with great diversity in ages, experiences, races or nationalities.

Guitarist Mick Mars suggested the name based on some referring to a previous band he had played with called White Horse as being "a motley looking crew." He wrote it as "Mottley Cru" but the band changed it to cure avoiding the standard spelling. Neil suggested adding two umlauts (those pronunciation dots over the letters) just to be different and wanted them to be shown in metal to suggest the metal nature of their music. He was inspired by the use of the umlauts on the label and caps of the German beer Löwenbräu which they were drinking at the time.    

Studio Albums

1. Too Fast for Love (1981)
2. Shout at the Devil (1983)
3. Theatre of Pain (1985)
4. Girls, Girls, Girls (1987)
5. Dr. Feelgood (1989)
6. Mötley Crüe (1994)
7. Generation Swine (1997)
8. New Tattoo (2000)
9. Saints of Los Angeles (2008)

Official website www.motley.com