Miniskirt influence?

[Jonathan Lighter]

It's why women wear jeans.

JL


On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 7:27 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Miniskirt influence?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jul 15, 2014, at 3:10 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> > At 7/15/2014 10:51 AM, Baker, John wrote:
> >> Yes, hemlines get higher (i.e., skirts get shorter) when the economy =
> improves and the stock market goes up, and vice versa.  The effect is =
> particularly easy to observe for the period 1920 - 1970.
> >=20
> > And pleasant to observe broadly.
> >=20
> > JSB
>
> On the other hand, if they rise too high, the garment industry doesn't =
> require as much material, hurting the manufacturing industry, and the =
> clothiers can't charge as much for their dresses and skirts because of =
> the reduced amount of fabric, leading to reduced income and less money =
> in circulation, sending the economy into a tailspin, leading to longer =
> hemlines. =20
>
> LH=20
> >=20
> >> While it's possible that it's just coincidence, the current theory is =
> that hemlines are affected by the ebullience associated with a strong =
> economy or the low spirits associated with a recession.
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> John Baker
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On =
> Behalf Of Joel S. Berson
> >> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 10:36 AM
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >> Subject: Re: Miniskirt influence?
> >>=20
> >> At 7/14/2014 11:15 PM, Baker, John wrote:
> >> >  Mexico City, a psychiatrist wrote an article of some kind linking
> >> > the short skirts to fears of international conflict, and a wire
> >> > service reporter in Mexico City then wrote a humorous article based
> >> > primarily on the psychiatrist's piece.
> >>=20
> >> Do I not remember miniskirts being correlated positively with
> >> economic booms?  Or was it negatively?  (More broadly, it was the
> >> raising or lowering of hemlines that was alleged to be associated
> >> with economic rises or falls.)
> >>=20
> >> Joel
> >>=20
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> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>=20
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> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >=20
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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