closet |
pants |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): build design wall house construction size century provide space common |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): form body type common state time world refer function term |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): material wood city church paint structure fuel floor type store |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): plant cell fruit grow produce seed leaf tree flower sugar |
times more probable under closet 30 20 10 6 4 2.5 1.25 1 1.25 2.5 4 6 10 20 30 times more probable under pants (words not in the model) | |
A closet'" (especially in North American usage) is a small and enclosed space, a cabinet, or a cupboard in a house or building used for general storage or hanging clothes. A closet for food storage is usually referred to as a "pantry". A closet, through French from Latin "clausum", "closed" began life in the seventeenth century as a small private room, often behind a bedroom, to which a man or woman could retire, for privacy, reading, or enjoyment of personal works of art: for this usage, see Cabinet (architecture). Modern closets can be built into the walls of the house during construction so that they take up no apparent space in the bedroom, or they can be a large, free-standing piece of furniture designed for clothes storage, in which case they are often called a wardrobe or armoire. Closets are often built under stairs, thereby using awkward space that would otherwise go unused. In current British usage, a "wardrobe" can also be built-in, and the word "cupboard" can be used to refer to a closet. In Elizabethan and Middle English, "closet" referred to a larger room in which a person could sit and read in private, but now refers to a small room in general. In Indian usage, a closet often refers to a toilet. This probably originated from the word "water closet", which refers to a flush toilet. In North America, chests, trunks and wall-mounted pegs typically provided storage prior to World War II. Built-in wall closets were uncommon and where they did exist, they tended to be small and shallow. Following World War II, however, deeper, more generously sized closets were introduced to new housing designs, which proved to be very attractive to buyers. It has even been suggested that the closet was a major factor in peoples' migration to the suburbs. Closet tax question in colonial America. Though some sources claim that colonial American houses often lacked closets because of a "closet tax" imposed by the British crown, others argue that closets were absent in most houses simply because their residents had few possessions. Closets in pop culture. Figuratively, a closet is a place where one hides things; "having skeletons in one's closet" is a figure of speech for having particularly sensitive secrets. Thus, "closet" as an adjective means "secret"—usually with a connotation of vice or shame, as in "a closet alcoholic" or "a closet homosexual," though sometimes used as a humorous exaggeration for any potential embarrassment, as in "a closet comic book fan." To "come out of the closet" is to admit your secrets publicly, but this is now used almost exclusively in reference to homosexuality. The documentary "The Celluloid Closet" uses this reference to gay people in its examination of how Hollywood films have depicted homosexuals on the screen. This is also extensively used in a controversial episode of "South Park". Psychologically, bedroom closets are the center of many childhood fears. Children fear during the night that a monster or any other paranormal creature hides inside the closet, and is destined to frighten the child. The Bogeyman is one prominent example. This is a common theme in films. In the first of the "Poltergeist" movies, the closet was the area of the family house the ghosts hid in to kidnap the child. And the "monster in the closet" fear was developed for comedic possibilities in film "Monsters, Inc.", in which monsters teleport into children's closets at night from a central location in order to scare them as a means of collecting screams, which run the monster economy. In the newspaper comic "Bloom County", the character Binkley had an "anxiety closet" in his bedroom, from which his fears would manifest themselves, while he was sleeping. For example, a librarian wielding a battle-axe, which then struck the headboard of his bed, attacked due to an overdue library book. Similarly, Opus the penguin from the Sunday strip Opus also has a closet which houses his worries. | Trousers'" are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth stretching across both as in skirts and dresses). Such items of clothing are often referred to as "'pants'" in countries such as Canada, South Africa and The United States. Additional synonyms include "'slacks'", "'kegs'" or "'kex'", "'breeches'" (sometimes) or "'breeks'". Historically, as for the West, trousers have been the standard lower-body clothing item for males since the 16th century; by the late 20th century, they had become prevalent for females as well. Trousers are worn at the hips or waist, and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt, or suspenders (braces). Leggings are form-fitting trousers of a clingy material, often knitted cotton and lycra. Terminology. In North America, "pants" is the general category term, and "trousers" refers, often more formally, specifically to tailored garments with a waistband and (typically) belt-loops and a fly-front. For instance, informal elastic-waist knitted garments would never be called "trousers" in the U.S. Undergarments are called "underwear", "underpants", or "panties" (the last are women's garments specifically) to distinguish them from other pants that are worn on the outside. The term "drawers" normally refers to undergarments, but in some dialects, may be found as a synonym for "breeches", that is, trousers. In these dialects, the term "underdrawers" is used for undergarments. In Australia the terms "pants" and "trousers" are synonymous. In most parts of the United Kingdom, "trousers" is the general category term, and "pants" refers to underwear. In some parts of Scotland, trousers are known as "trews"; taken from the early Middle English "trouse", its plural developed into "trousers". Various people in the contemporary fashion industry use the word "pant" instead of "pants". This is grammatically incorrect. The word pants is a "plurale tantum", always in plural form much like the words scissors and tongs. The origin of pants is due to the use of two pieces of cloth in making it. Pant would actually mean just a single leg being covered with clothing. History. Nomadic Eurasian horsemen such as the Iranian Scythians, along with Achaemenid Persians, were among the first to wear trousers. In ancient China, trousers were only worn by soldiers. The first european appearance of trousers was in Hungary in the IX century. Men's clothes in Hungary in the 15th century consisted of a shirt and trousers as underwear, and a dolman worn over them, as well as a short fur-lined or sheepskin coat. At special occasions people wore gowns made of expensive materials, and these preferred by Pipo of Ozora too. Hungarian people had unique hair styles and wore high (fur) caps. Their trousers were simple in general, only their colour being unusual, but the dolman covered the greater part of the trousers. Trousers were introduced into Western European culture at several points in history, but gained their current predominance only in the 16th century, from a Commedia dell'Arte character named "Pantalone" (Italian word for Trousers). In England in the Twelfth century, the rustic were often seen in long garments to the ankle, rather like trousers, which are really glorified braies. Strangely enough, trouserlike garments, which became rare again in the thirteenth century, vanished during the fourteenth century and scarcely reappeared for six hundred years. The word itself is of Gaelic or Scots Gaelic origin, from the Middle Irish word "triubhas" (close-fitting shorts), however it is important to note that trews of the Early Industrial Period were in not trousers. Men's trousers. Trousers trace their ancestry to the individual hose worn by men in the 15th century (which is why trousers are plural and not singular). The hose were easy to make and fastened to a doublet at the top with ties called "points". It is important that at this point in time, these were not trousers, but trews, as can be seen in the 1746 painting by David Morier.. As time went by, the two hose were joined, first in the back then across the front, but still leaving a large opening for sanitary functions. Originally, doublets came almost to the knees, effectively covering the private parts, but as fashions changed and doublets became shorter, it became necessary for men to cover their genitals with a codpiece. By the end of the 16th century, the codpiece had been incorporated into the hose, now usually called breeches, which were roughly knee-length and featured a "fly" or "fall front" opening. During the French Revolution, the male citizens of France adopted a working-class costume including ankle-length trousers or pantaloons in place of the aristocratic knee-breeches. This style was introduced to England in the early 19th century, possibly by Beau Brummell, and supplanted breeches as fashionable street wear by mid-century. Breeches survived into the 1940s as the plus-fours or knickers worn for active sports and by young school-boys. Types of breeches are still worn today by baseball and American football players. Sailors may have played a role in the dissemination of trousers as a fashion around the world. In the 17th and 18th centuries, sailors wore baggy trousers known as "galligaskins". Sailors were also the first to wear jeans, trousers made of denim. These became more popular in the late 19th century in the American West, because of their ruggedness and durability. Women's trousers. Although trousers for women in western countries did not become fashion items until the later 20th century, women began wearing men's trousers (suitably altered) for outdoor work a hundred years earlier. Starting around the mid 19th Century, Wigan "pit brow girls" scandalized Victorian society by wearing trousers for their work at the local coal mines. They wore skirts over their trousers and rolled them up to their waist to keep them out of the way. Although "pit brow lassies" worked above-ground at the pit-head, the task of sorting and shovelling coal was hard manual labour, so wearing the usual long skirts of the time would have greatly hindered their movements. Women working the ranches of the 19th century American West also wore trousers for riding, and in the early 20th century aviatrices and other working women often wore trousers. Actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn were often photographed in trousers from the 1930s and helped make trousers acceptable for women. During World War II, women working in factories and doing other forms of "men's work" on war service wore trousers when the work demanded it, and in the post-war era trousers became acceptable casual wear for gardening, the beach, and other leisure pursuits. In Britain during the Second World War, because of the rationing of clothing, many women took to wearing their husbands' civilian clothes, including their trousers, to work while their husbands were away in the armed forces. This was partly because they were seen as practical garments of workwear, and partly to allow women to keep their clothing allowance for other uses. As this practice of wearing trousers became more widespread and as the men's clothes wore out, replacements were needed, so that by the summer of 1944 it was reported that sales of women's trousers were five times more than in the previous year. In the 1960s, André Courrèges introduced long trousers for women as a fashion item, leading to the era of the pantsuit and designer jeans and the gradual eroding of the prohibitions against girls and women wearing trousers in schools, the workplace, and fine restaurants. Pleats. Pleats just below the waistband on the front are typical of many styles of formal and casual trousers including suit trousers and khakis. There may be one, two, three, or no pleats, which may face either direction. When the pleats open towards the pockets they are called reverse pleats (typical of khakis and corduroy trousers) and when they open toward the zipper, they are known as forward pleats. Utilitarian or very casual styles such as jeans and cargo pants are flat-front (without pleats at the waistband) but may have bellows pockets. Cuffs. Most trouser legs are finished by hemming the bottom to prevent fraying. Trousers with cuffs ("turn-ups" in British English), after hemming, are rolled outward and sometimes pressed or stitched into place. The main reason for the cuffs is to add weight to the bottom of the leg, to help the drape of the trousers. Fly. A fly on clothing is a covering over an opening join concealing the mechanism, such as a zip, velcro or buttons used to join the opening. The term is most frequently applied to a short opening in trousers, shorts and other garments covering the groin, and to allow garments to be taken on and off with greater ease. Trousers have varied historically in whether or not they have flies. Originally, hose did not cover between the legs, which was hidden by a codpiece, and when breeches were worn, for example in the Regency period, they were fall-fronted (or broad fall). After trousers (pantaloons) were later invented later the fly-front (split fall) emerged. Later the panelled front returned as a sporting option, such as in riding breeches, but is now hardly used, flies being by far the most common fastening. Most flies now use a zip, though enthusiasts continue to wear button flies. Society. It is customary in the western world for men to wear trousers and not skirts or dresses. However, there are exceptions, such as the Scottish kilt and the Greek foustanella, worn on ceremonial occasions, as well as robes or robe-like clothing such as the cassocks, etc. of clergy and academic robes (both rarely worn in daily use today). (See also Men's skirts.) Based on Deuteronomy 22:5 in the Bible, some groups believe that women should not wear trousers, but only skirts and dresses. Among certain groups, low-rise, baggy trousers exposing underwear are in fashion, e.g. among skaters and in 1990s hip hop fashion despite its prison-based origins. This fashion is called sagging. "Cut-offs" are homemade shorts made by cutting the legs off trousers, usually after holes have been worn in fabric around the knees. This extends the useful life of the trousers. The remaining leg fabric may be hemmed or left to fray after being cut. Removing one's trousers in public is considered taboo. Law. In May 2004 in Louisiana, state legislator Derrick Shepherd proposed a bill that would make it a crime to appear in public wearing trousers below the waist and thereby exposing one's skin or "intimate clothing". The Louisiana bill was retracted after negative public reaction. In February 2005, Virginia legislators tried to pass a similar law that would have made punishable by a $50 fine: "any person who, while in a public place, intentionally wears and displays his below-waist undergarments, intended to cover a person's intimate parts, in a lewd or indecent manner". It is not clear whether, with the same coverage by the trousers, exposing underwear was considered worse than exposing bare skin, or that the latter was already covered by another law. It passed in the Virginia House of Delegates. However, various criticisms to it arose. For example, newspaper columnists and radio talk show hosts consistently said that since most people that would be penalized under the law would be young African-American men, the law would thus be a form of discrimination against them. Virginia's state senators voted against passing the law. Carol Broussard, mayor of Delcambre, said that he will sign the proposal unanimously passed by town councillors, so that wearing trousers that reveal one's underwear will lead to a $500 penalty and the risk of six months in jail. "If you expose your private parts, you'll get a fine," said Mr Broussard. He told the Associated Press that people wearing low-slung trousers are "better off taking the pants off and wearing a dress." Ted Ayo, town attorney, said that the new legislation would expand on existing indecent exposure laws in Louisiana: "This is a new ordinance that deals specifically with sagging pants. It's about showing off your underwear in public". Mr. Broussard has received local criticism for the ordinance, with some Delcambre residents claiming that the proposal is racially motivated, due to the popularity of "sagging pants" among black hip-hop fans. However, he responded: "White people wear sagging pants, too." |