"Sweater-vest"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Since the late '60s I've occasionally noticed sleeveless, turtleneck
fashion sweaters for women.

The collar would keep me from calling that a "sweater vest."

JL
On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 8:34 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Sweater-vest"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 3/29/12 12:02 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > Date:    Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:41:32 -0400
> > From:    "Joel S. Berson"<Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject: Re: "Sweater-vest"
> >
> > At 3/28/2012 11:13 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>> >  >And that tells me something
> >> >particular: it's usually v-neck and can be buttoned or buttonless.
> >> >
> >> >I can see the theoretical distinction, but "sleeveless sweater" told me
> >> >exactly the same thing.
> > I don't have "sweater vest" in my vocabulary, so I imagine it as
> > buttoned, like a "vest"  (e.g. in a three-piece suit; "waistcoat" to
> > Wikipedia and perhaps Amy), to distinguish it from a "sleeveless
> > sweater", which to me is always buttonless and which I put on and
> > take off over my head.  But your method may vary.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> >
>
> Interesting distinction that you're making: "sweater" = pullover; "vest"
> = button-up. Whereas to me "vest" simply indicates the area of the body
> covered (torso). Which is why "sleeved waistcoat" threw me for a loop
> last week. Just what the difference between it and just plain old "coat"
> was wasn't clear to me at first. (And I don't use "waistcoat" except as
> historical terminology; "vest" is my norm.) I'll add "sleeveless
> sweater" to my passive clothing lexicon. (And that's parsed as [passive]
> [clothing lexicon], not [passive clothing] [lexicon]. Trying to cut you
> off at the pass, guys.)
>
> --
> ---Amy West
>
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