On Wed 16 Jan 2008 07:54:29p, Lou Decruss told us...

> On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:47:35 GMT, Wayne Boatwright
> > wrote:
>
>>On Wed 16 Jan 2008 05:25:13p, Lou Decruss told us...
>
>>> This is only the second time I've heard the term "clothes horse."
>>>
>>> Many years ago I briefly dated a chick that referred to herself that
>>> way. She had clothes with the tags still on them packed in her living
>>> room end tables. About half of her kitchen cabinets had clothes in
>>> them. She had a few loose screws so the fling never went anywhere.
>>
>>My mother was definitely not like that. :-)
>
> Sorry Wayne. I wasn't implying she was. I could have worded my
> question better.

Oh, I didn't think you were. I was only pointing out the different
motivation. My mother was a fashion model in Hollywood in the late 1930s-
early 1940s. She was approached numerous times by studio folks, but wasn't
interested in being in film. She simply loved to dress well all the time.

>>She loved beautiful clothing
>>of top quality and had a huge collection of such. She wore all of it.
>>This extended to handbags, shoes, jewelry, and accessories. She always
>>dressed well but was never overdressed. I never saw her leaving the
>>house without being properly dressed. In fact, I rarely saw her inside
>>the house without being properly dressed. She truly enjoyed looking
>>nice.
>
> This girl "needed" to look nice. I figured out she was bulimic so the
> rest of the obsessions made sense.

Yes, that makes perfect sense.

>>
>>> So do you know what the origin of that term is? I could never figure
>>> it out.
>>
>>In the early 19th century, "clothes horses" were wooden racks used for
>>drying or airing out clothes. The jocular use of "clothes horse" to
>>describe a person who seems to "live to display clothes" was a natural
>>extension of the phrase, and first appeared around 1850.
>
> Very interesting. Thanks for responding.

BTW, they still sell those wooden racks. They also make them in metal
these days. :-)



--
Wayne Boatwright

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Date: Wednesday, 01(I)/16(XVI)/08(MMVIII)
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