Dungarees

[Baker, John]

        I've been surprised at how familiar the term seems to everybody.
To me, "dungarees" is a purely literary term.  In fact, I was hazy on
its exact meaning until this online discussion.  When I was growing up
in Kentucky in the 1960s and 1970s, we called them jeans or blue jeans
or, more generically, pants.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Janet Marting
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 3:24 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Dungarees

As someone born and reared in Vermont (in the 50s and 60s), I grew up
calling denim pants "dungarees."  When I moved to Colorado for grad
school in the mid-70s and tried to buy a pair in the stores, no one knew
what I was talking about.  In grad school (in Michigan) later in the 70s
and 80s, the term was Levis or jeans.  My students claim they don't have
a specific word for the article of clothing, despite most of the
students wearing Levi's, jeans, dungarees, denims--call them what you
will.

Jinny Marting
University of Akron

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