OT: the cost of living

Lynne Murphy m.l.murphy at SUSSEX.AC.UK
Thu Sep 11 15:44:23 UTC 2008


--On Wednesday, September 10, 2008 9:52 am -0400 Doug_Harris
<cats22 at STNY.RR.COM> wrote:
>
> That’s where Central Saint Martins graduate Joanna Sykes comes in. Her
> eponymous collection, which launches this season, comprises twenty perfect
> separates. They’re pricey (from £158) but these luxury basics will provide
> the nuts and bolts of your fashion armoury. Think softly tailored jackets,
> skinny trousers, classic shirts and cool tees in blacks and whites with a
> classic rock ’n’ roll spin.
>
> And that’s all there is to it.
>
> Basically.
>
> Available at Matches, 60-64 Ledbury Road, W11 2AJ (020 7221 0255 or
> matchesfashion.com). To see styles, go to sykeslondon.com.
> ---------
> Who _are_ these people who can consider things at such prices?
> I know the 70's are a thousand tomorrows ago, but when I lived
> there then, few were paying as much per month for a flat! Or a
> mortgage. And a pound of carrots might have cost 6p or so at
> the street market back of Piccadilly.
> How things have _changed_.
> cats22 (aka doug)

A 2-bedroom flat in London is going to cost you at least £800 a month.  To
buy it (assuming it's not too fancy and not in too pricy a neighborhood)
would be about a quarter of a million.  That's a half million dollars.  So,
paying £158 for a t-shirt is silly, but it's what I pay for 2 weeks'
groceries.  I'm sure there are such ridiculously priced designer t-shirts
in NY or LA too, and people with more money than sense buying them.  At the
same time, the UK has better (in quality and price) discount clothing shops
than the US (and it's considered chic to dress from them) and much more
fashion consciousness (unless you're Sarah Jessica Parker), as far as I'm
concerned...

Am trying to think of some fashion-related lexical items to bring this back
to list-relevance, but nothing truly relevant springs to mind.  Here's what
I've got on the blog, if you're interested:

<http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/search/label/fashion%2Fclothing>

Lynne

Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language
Arts B135
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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