tousled

[Jesse Sheidlower]

In my idiolect, "tousled" hair is hair that could, or is
usually, in some sort of a "neat" style, but has been
disrupted and is now somewhat messy. It has to be long enough
to be moved out of a "neat" position, and thus a crewcut
cannot be tousled, but it doesn't have to be long. A short
unkempt-looking style could be considered tousled.

To me it definitely implies a variance from a norm, also.
Einstein's hair was always unkempt (at least in popular
portrayals), and thus wouldn't be considered tousled. If
his hair was normally carefully combed, but every time a
photographer came around he messed it up, that would
be different.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 07:59:22PM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> 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:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > 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:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > 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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> > truth."
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>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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