tousled

[Jonathan Lighter]

So Catherine Herridge's hair was tousled because it was too short to comb?
Or just long enough so as not to be a crewcut but not long enough for a
blowdryer?  How long is that?

I'm starting to think it's the default "colorful" adjective for any hair not
absolutely straight, short and tightly curled, very short, or meticulousy
styled.

Every language needs a word for that.

JL

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 7:46 PM, 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: tousled
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Tousled" is the uncombed *look*, not "uncombed", which is styleless.
>
> Joel
>
> At 9/23/2010 04:14 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >That "Caucasoid" bit occurred to me too, but if "tousled" is expanding its
> >meaning, it could apply to a large Afro as well. In that case it could
> mean
> >something like "uncombed," which seems very plausible.
> >
> >I probably wouldn't call Einstein's hair, or Paderewski's, "tousled" (I'd
> >call it "long," even "wild," or a "mane") but I'm just one crank.
> >Stereotyped hippie hair wouldn't be "tousled," either, unless mildly
> messed
> >up,"uncombed" in a slightly different way.
> >
> >As you say, Wilson, "Youneverknow."
> >
> >JL
> >
> >On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 3:56 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
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> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: tousled
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Q.: Can short hair be "tousled"? Â If so, what does "tousled" mean?
> > > Anything?
> > > > Or is it becoming just a journalistic default description of hair [of
> the
> > > Caucasoid type]?
> > >
> > > A. My experience, strictly literary, is that tousling requires hair of
> > > at least a certain, intuitively-recognized length. No one writes of
> > > tousling hair cut in, e.g. the marine/Marine "jarhead" style.
> > >
> > > B. I wouldn't be surprised. Youneverknow.
> > >
> > > --
> > > -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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