Women from around the world modeled and talked about traditional clothing in their countries of origin during a fashion show at yesterday’s meeting of International Neighbors. Most like one other in what they chose to wear were the four ladies from Japan, all of whom wore what they described as summer kimonos, made of cotton rather than silk. Three of the ladies wore obis with their kimonos, and each obi was tied differently. One was elegantly simple; the other two were elegantly elaborate.
I asked if the husband of the one with the fanciest knot had helped her tie it. The obis were, after all, tied in back. My question seemed to afford the ladies some amusement, as if obi-tying help from a husband were a preposterous concept. The Japanese foursome were far too polite to come right out and laugh, but the spokesperson for the group explained, “We helped each other.”
India’s contingent of models was, by far, the most numerous. Each lady explained the type of sari she wore, where in India she was from, what her garment was made of, the significance of the colors and ornamentation, and the occasions for which that particular sari would be appropriate.
The ladies from Iran modeled the most diverse attire coming from one country. The three women came from different parts of the county and, I would guess, at least two distinct traditions. The lady who said she was Persian wore bright colors and a full skirt; she looked ready to dance. The others wore darker outfits that were, to my eye, less festive.
The Taiwanese lady described an outfit worn in her country, a longish tunic with a slit on each side, as having been introduced to her part of the world when the Mongols invaded. “And these slits?” she said. “You probably think they’re for style. No, they’re for convenience: they make it easier to get on and off a horse.”
Two women decided to represent the United States in the fashion show. One wore a jeans, a black shirt, a neckerchief, and a western hat; she was a cowboy. The other one wore a nondescript outfit she’d worn as Ann Allen in a play about the founding of Ann Arbor. I’d known there was an Ann Allen, of course, but I grew up here and only ever learned her name. Turns out there was a reason for that. She not only didn’t like it here, she hardly spent any time here, having returned to her moneyed Virginia life at the first opportunity.
A theme that struck me throughout the parade of fashions was how much borrowing there was from other cultures. The Sri Lankan woman, for instance, said of her colorful outfit that she had purchased it in India, but that that was true of much of what women in her country wore. Many countries seemed to borrow from India. What got appropriated from other cultures most in the fashion show was shoes. Notably not the ladies from Japan, but many, many of the other ladies wore the traditional garb of their country—and gym shoes.
To round out the day, yesterday, my husband and I attended a presentation by Rebecca Kruth and Anne Curzan, who have a weekly NPR radio program on American English usage, “That’s What They Say.” Curzan, linguist, professor of English at the University of Michigan, and dean of its liberal arts college, has just had a new book published. It’s called, Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words, and Ipurchaseda copy before the presentation even started.
Curzan talks about how we all have within us a grammando, which wants to stamp out new usages of the language, and a word nerd—a wordie—which notices and enjoys how language is changing. The wordie, she says, is like a birder that, when noticing a new bird, wants to learn more about it. The grammando is more likely to rush in, yelling, “Kill it!”
Curzan, while a scholar, has a playful attitude toward words and usage. On at least one matter, however, she is quite serious: the use of they as a neutral singular in English. She’s all for it. Furthermore, she told the audience, using they this way began centuries ago. Even Shakespeare did it. Curzan says the usage is so much a part of our everyday speech that we don’t even notice it.
Consider, for example, “We should get directions from someone who knows where they’re going.” Whoa! She’s right. That Curzan person seems like someone who really knows where they’re going. And has fun getting there.
19 April 2024