Semantic drift: "khaki"

Sat Sep 22 01:40:31 UTC 2007

Good catch, Joel!

-Wilson

On 9/21/07, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Semantic drift: "khaki"
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> <font size=3>At 9/21/2007 06:14 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:<br>
> <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">You can say that again! My
> memory of the color "chino" goes back to<br>
> the 'Fifties. Back then, "chino" and "khaki" were, at
> worst, variants<br>
> of two of the colors available in a weave called "cotton
> twill."<br>
> Workmen wore blue, black, green, white, grey, etc. Students wore<br>
> chino/khaki.</font></blockquote><br>
> Having had the inspiration finally to look at the OED, I find:<br><br>
> A cotton twill cloth, usu. khaki in colour; also (usu. pl.), a garment,
> esp. trousers, made of this cloth. Freq. attrib.<br><br>
> And an amusing  1961 D. Hamilton Removers (1962) xv. 84 Her skirt
> was nicely tailored of some fine khaki material, or maybe the stuff is
> called chino when it joins the aristocracy. <br><br>
> Joel<br>
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