tousled

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Unkempt" entails "sloppy."  Unlike "uncombed," in the sense that, like an
Afro, it isn't supposed to be combed and looks OK on it own terms.

I have never seen Catherine Herridge on the tube with "unkempt" hair, though
it used to be quite short and even now looks barely tousleable.

JL

On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 10:56 AM, George Thompson
<george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: tousled
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "unkempt"?
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010 8:00 pm
> Subject: Re: tousled
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> > 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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> >
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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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