Comments on: Technically there are no pedants behind you.

By: Rich

Rich — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:55:22 +0000

You’d think so, but no! You wear a tie with a dress shirt, which can have a button-down collar, but usually has a point collar, like the other shirt illustrated above, or a spread collar, which is wider when it’s closed but is made the same way. The points of a point collar are stiff and even then often have plastic or metal tabs in them to stiffen them further so they stay in place.

In fact, the button-down collar is much more casual, to the point where you usually wouldn’t wear one with a suit. That’s a historical thing — the reason the collar buttons down in the first place is so that it wouldn’t get caught by the wind and annoy you while you’re out riding your horse on your estate. (Which is also why button-downs are usually paired with sport coats, but that’s also because when you wear a shirt without a tie under a sport coat, the button-down collar stays in place a lot better than a point collar.)

By: thedeli

thedeli — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 05:51:41 +0000

If you can find me a fundamental (name a language, say… English) word that doesn’t spring from a historical “colloquial misuse”, I’ll find you a smurf.

The world has not just recently ‘gone to hell in a handbasket’. It has always been in the basket; you just got in recently.

I DEMAND PERSPECTIVE! YOU TOO MENDEL!

All that said, I love button-down shirts by any definition.

By: wisedonkey

wisedonkey — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 01:46:31 +0000

As a non-fashion-conscious slug, I’m guessing every time one wears a standard tie, a button-down shirt should be worn?

By: rahaeli

rahaeli — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 21:12:06 +0000

Sir, as someone who correctly uses “nauseous” vs “nauseated”, I applaud your pedantry.

By: citizenx

citizenx — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:20:52 +0000

I’m just confused because I start buttoning from the bottom and work my way up. I guess I wear “button-up” shirts.

By: eyeteeth

eyeteeth — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:03:34 +0000

WHAT ABOUT MY NEEEEEEEEEDS

This is interesting, though. I never knew this about “button-down.” I even looked it up in Webster’s Eleventh and what do you know!

By: asciident

asciident — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 18:55:50 +0000

To someone of my generation (read: I’m younger than 30), a button-down shirt is any shirt that buttons down the front. Most of us (except the fashion slaves?) don’t care about what the collar does/looks like when we name a button-down.

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 18:17:44 +0000

(Although I suppose there’s always “blouse”, but I’m not sure where that’s drifted to either.)

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 18:15:36 +0000

Well, what I wrote was to do with men’s shirts. I don’t know women’s fashion terminology at all, really. I can never even remember the even-odd size thing.

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 18:02:45 +0000

That's just what it means to them. See here for an example -- it's not just kids using the wrong word, it's a real semantic change.