"clad" (was Re: "defecting")

[Wilson Gray]

Well, FWIW, as is the case for Jim, "clad" also strikes me as properly
meaning something like "(fully-)clothed (only) in," and not just
wearing something as *part* of one's dress. I.e., a "head scarf-clad
Muslim woman" is, for me, except for her head scarf, otherwise stark,
raving nude. No wonder that she was barred from entering a courtroom!

My WAG is that "clad" is coming to mean "partly-dresed in," "wearing
in addition to one's other clothing," or some such simply because it's
short enough to be forced into a headline more easily than, e.g.
"wearing." Perhaps headline-writers are just less learned than they
used to be. Or maybe they just don't care.

-Wilson

On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 3:52 PM, Mark Mandel <Mark.A.Mandel at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <Mark.A.Mandel at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "clad" (was Re: "defecting")
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It's not hard to find other examples. Here are a few. I'm pretty sure the
> articles would have mentioned if that was ALL they were wearing, especially
> the one from the Muckraker site. (Besides, that one has a head shot; he's
> wearing at least a shirt, tie, and jacket.)
>
> If "clad in X" ~ "X-clad" =3D 'wearing X', why should anyone infer that tha=
> t's
> all?
>
> =3D=3D=3D
>
> DiGenova -- Clad In Cowboy Boots -- And Toensing Give AZ Presser, Then Meet
> With Arpaio
> <
> http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/digenova_--_clad_in_cowbo=
> y_boots_---_and_toensing.php
>>
>
> [...]
> In an apparent effort to blend in, reports the Phoenix New Times, diGenova
> wore cowboy boots. But aside from that, the limelight-seeking power couple
> apparently didn't reveal too much.
>
> ---
>
> Head scarf-clad New Zealand Muslim woman barred from entering courtroom
> <
> http://blog.taragana.com/n/head-scarf-clad-new-zealand-muslim-woman-barred-=
> from-entering-courtroom-157128/
>>
>
> WELLINGTON - A Muslim woman, who was barred from entering a Hastings
> courtroom because she refused to take off her headscarf, will lodge a
> complaint with the country=E2=80=99s Human Rights Commission.
>
> ---
>
> Jewellers robbery in Oxfordshire by burka-clad man: =C2=A3150000 ...
> <
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209006/Jewellers-robbery-Oxfordshi=
> re-burka-clad-man--150-000-designer-watches-stolen.html
>>
>
> Aug 27, 2009 ... A man wearing a burkha and two accomplices, who wore dark
> clothes and had their faces covered, stole =C2=A3150000-worth of Rolex, ..
>
> =3D=3D=3D
>
> m a m
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 2:29 PM, James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> =
> <
> JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> OT:  from the Christian Science Monitor, referring to a Chinese
>> hostage-rescue exercise:
>>
>> http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1020/p06s07-wosc.html
>>
>> "CHINESE COMMANDOS IN TRAINING VIDEO
>> In the video, after a failed attempt at negotiating with the "pirates,"
>> balaclava clad helicopter and small boat-borne troops storm a vessel and
>> subdue its captors."
>>
>> Is that all the Chinese troops were wearing?
>>
>>     - Jim Landau
>>
>
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>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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