ratio of word probabilities predicted from brain for closet and skirt

close this window

closet

skirt

top 10 words in brain distribution (in article):
build house design wall construction size provide century space common
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article):
light produce type time variety male form world tube century
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article):
material city wood fuel paint store floor structure state engine
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article):
animal drink species plant lamp wine water fruit beer bottle
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 skirt
(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. A skirt'" is a tube- or cone-shaped garment that hangs from the waist and covers all or part of the legs. In European culture, skirts are usually considered women's clothing. However, there are exceptions. The kilt is a traditional men's garment in Scotland, and some fashion designers, such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, have shown men's skirts. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of material (such as pareos), but most skirts are fitted to the body at the waist and fuller below, with the fullness introduced by means of dart, gores, pleats, or panels. Modern skirts are usually made of light to mid-weight fabrics, such as denim, jersey, worsted, or poplin. Skirts of thin or clingy fabrics are often worn with slips to make the material of the skirt drape better and for modesty. The hemline of skirts can be as high as the upper thigh or as low as the ground, depending on the whims of fashion and the modesty or personal taste of the wearer. Some medieval upper-class women wore skirts over 3 metres in diameter at the bottom. At the other extreme, the miniskirts of the 1960s were minimal garments that may have barely covered the underwear when seated. Costume historians typically use the word "petticoat" to describe skirt-like garments of the 18th century or earlier. History. Skirts have been worn by men and women from many cultures, such as the lungi, kanga and sarong worn in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and the kilt worn in Scotland. The earliest known culture to have females wear miniskirts were the Duan Qun Miao, which literally meant "short skirt Miao" in Chinese. This was in reference to the short miniskirts "that barely cover the buttocks" worn by women of the tribe, and which were "probably shocking" to Han Chinese observers in medieval and early modern times. Skirts in the 19th century. During the nineteenth century the cut of women's dresses in western culture varied more widely than in any other century. Waistlines started just below the bust (the Empire silhouette) and gradually sank to the natural waist. Skirts started fairly narrow and increased dramatically to the hoopskirt and crinoline-supported styles of the 1860s; then fullness was draped and drawn to the back by means of bustles. Skirts in the 20th and 21st centuries. Beginning around 1915, hemlines for daytime dresses left the floor for good. For the next fifty years fashionable skirts became short (1920s). then long (1930s), then shorter (the War Years with their restrictions on fabric), then long (the New Look), then shortest of all during the 1960s, when skirts became as short as possible while avoiding exposure of underwear, which was considered taboo. Since the 1970s and the rise of pants for women as an option for all but the most formal of occasions, no one skirt length has dominated fashion for long, with short and ankle-length styles often appearing side-by-side in fashion magazines and catalogs. Male wear. There are a number of male garments which fall under the catergory of "skirt" or "dress." These go by a variety of names and form part of the traditional dress for men from various cultures. Usage varies- the dhoti is part of everyday dress on the Indian subcontinent while the kilt is more usually restricted to occasional wear and the foustanella is used almost exclusively as costume. Robes, which are a type of dress for men, have existed in many cultures, including the Japanese kimono, the Chinese cheongsam, the Arabic thobe, and the African Senegalese kaftan. Robes are also used in some religious orders, such as the cassock in Christianity and various robes and cloaks that may be used in pagan rituals. Examples of men's skirts and skirt like garments from various cultures include: In the Western world skirts, dresses and similar garments are considered primarily women's clothing today although historically that was not the case. The wearing of skirts by men in these areas is generally seen as cross-dressing although some fashion designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier have produced skirts for men and kilts are widely accepted in some situations.