"clad" (was Re: "defecting")

[Jonathan Lighter]

Maybe because "clad" is most often associated with "scantily clad" and "clad
only in"?

JL

On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 10:50 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "clad" (was Re: "defecting")
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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