[Ads-l] layer = "an insulating item of clothing"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Wed Oct 23 00:00:00 UTC 2019


Agreed.  That’s how I would use it (having spent four years in Wisconsin myself, often outdoors in transitional seasons), but I agree that the announcement would have been clearer had it suggested “An extra layer”.



> On Oct 22, 2019, at 5:40 PM, Andy Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
>> Has anyone else encountered this usage?
> 
> Well, we (in WI) talk of the advantage of dressing in or wearing layers,
> without appending clothing "For biking in cold weather, layers are your
> best bet." but not a noun singular, beside, maybe "It'll be a windchill of
> -20, so an extra layer or two will help."
> 
> On Tue, Oct 22, 2019 at 4:10 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Has anyone else encountered this usage?
>> 
>> An exchange with the writer of an announcement:
>> 
>> =====
>> 
>> Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 2:35 PM …
>> 
>> This is just a quick reminder that we're organizing … on Monday, October
>> 21st, at 9:30am.
>> [The event] will go until ~1pm and be followed by a vegetarian potluck
>> lunch.
>> 
>> Things to bring:
>>>> -A layer. We hope to be outside.
>> 
>> =====
>> 
>> Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 10:57 PM Mark Mandel …
>> «-A layer. We hope to be outside.»
>> 
>> I'm sorry, that doesn't make any sense to me. A layer of what, for what? My
>> only guess is that you mean something to sit or lie on, like a picnic
>> blanket, to protect our clothes from getting stained by the grass.
>> 
>> =====
>> 
>> Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 1:50 PM…
>> Hi Mark-
>> By a layer, I meant a clothing layer. Like a jacket or sweater.
>> 
>> =====
>> 
>> MAM
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> a
> 
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
> 608 261-5738 wk
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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