'kimono' pronun & use

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 12:00 PM 6/21/2005, you wrote:
>At 11:33 AM -0400 6/21/05, Mark A. Mandel wrote:
>>Victoria writes:
>>    >>>>>
>>Well, M-W's 11th Collegiate and New Oxford American have a "long-o"
>>final syllable for the first pronun listed, with the schwa pron as the
>>single alternate; American Heritage 4th and Webster's New World 4th
>>list the schwa pron first, with the long o as an alternate pron of
>>almost equal currency
>>  <<<<<
>>
>>I have only ever used the "long-o" final syllable, but then, I have never
>>used the word to mean anything but the Japanese garment.
>ditto, on both conjuncts
>
>Larry

Ah, but you're not wearers of the thing!  I never used the word "kimono/a"
either, but my mother did; as Vicki and I said before, it appears to come
from that earlier generation--probably as a catchy "exotic" term for a then
new lightweight maybe flowery garment to be worn over a nightie (that's a
cute one) at breakfast.  I suspect the earlier Victorian era items were
heavy, dark, and stodgy.