skirt |
bell |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): light produce time type male variety world form female century |
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): church time form century death iron world word life ancient |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): animal species plant drink lamp fruit water wine beer grow |
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): love fuel sexual god woman engine people energy power gas |
times more probable under skirt 30 20 10 6 4 2.5 1.25 1 1.25 2.5 4 6 10 20 30 times more probable under bell (words not in the model) | |
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. | A bell'" is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually an open-ended hollow drum which resonates upon being struck. The striking implement can be a tongue suspended within the bell, known as a "clapper", a small, free sphere enclosed within the body of the bell, or a separate mallet. Bells are usually made of cast metal, but small bells can also be made from ceramic or glass. Bells can be of all sizes: from tiny dress accessories to church bells weighing many tons. Church and temple bells. In the Western world, its most classical form is a church bell or town bell, which is hung within a tower and sounded by having the entire bell swung by ropes, whereupon an internal hinged clapper strikes the body of the bell (called a free-swinging bell). A set of bells, hung in a circle for change ringing, is known as a ring of bells. In the Eastern world, the traditional forms of bells are temple and palace bells, small ones being rung by a sharp rap with a stick, and very large ones rung by a blow from the outside by a large swinging beam. The striking technique is employed worldwide for some of the largest tower-borne bells, because swinging the bells themselves could damage their towers. In the Roman Catholic Church and among some High Lutherans and Anglicans, small hand-held bells, called Sanctus or sacring bells, are often rung by a server at Mass when the priest holds high up first the host, and then the chalice immediately after he has said the words of consecration over them (the moment known as the Elevation). This serves to indicate to the congregation that the bread and wine have just been transformed into the body and blood of Christ (see transubstantiation), or, in the alternative Reformation teaching, that Christ is now bodily present in the elements, and that what the priest is holding up for them to look at is Christ himself (see consubstantiation). Japanese religious bells. Japanese Shintoist and Buddhist bells are used in religious ceremonies. "Suzu", a homophone meaning both "cool and refreshing," are spherical bells which contain metal pellets that produce sound from the inside. The hemispherical bell is the "Kane" bell, which is struck on the outside. See also Kane (musical instrument). Buddhist bells. Buddhist bells are used in religious ceremonies. Bell construed as a cause for war. On January 15, 1602 ("Keichō 7"), a fire broke out at Hōkō-ji, Buddhist temple complex in Kyoto. The great image of the Buddha and the structure housing the statue, the "Daibutsu-den", were both consumed by the flames. In 1610, Toyotomi Hideyori decided to sponsor rebuilding the Hōkō-ji and he also decided to order a great bell cast in bronze. On August 24, 1614 ("Keichō 19"), the huge new bronze bell was cast successfully. Dedication ceremonies were scheduled, but at the last minute, Tokugawa Ieyasu forbade the ceremonies to take place because he construed inscriptions on the bell to have been a personal affront: This contrived dispute led to the, which was a series of battles between armies of the Tokugawa shogunate and the samurai of the Toyotomi clan. The siege lasted through 1615. It is conventionally divided into two stages: the Winter Campaign and the Summer Campaign. In the end, the total destruction of the Toyotomi eliminated the last major opposition to the shogunate which would come to dominate Japan for the next 250 years. Bellmaking. The process of casting bells is called bellmaking or bellfounding, and in Europe dates to the 4th or 5th century. The traditional metal for these bells is a bronze of about 23% tin. Known as "bell metal", this alloy is also the traditional alloy for the finest Turkish and Chinese cymbals. Other materials sometimes used for large bells include brass and iron. Bells are always cast mouth down. Bells are made to exact formulas, so that given the diameter it is possible to calculate every dimension, and its musical note, or tone. The frequency of a bell's note in Hz varies with the square of its thickness, and inversely with its diameter. Much experimentation has been devoted to determining the exact shape that will give the best tone. The thickness of a church bell at its thickest part, called the 'sound bow' is usually one thirteenth its diameter. If the bell is mounted as cast, it is called a "maiden bell" while "tuned bells" are worked after casting to produce a precise note. Bell towers. Bells are also associated with clocks, indicating the hour by ringing. Indeed, the word "clock" comes from the Latin word "cloca", meaning bell. Clock towers or bell towers can be heard over long distances which was especially important in the time when clocks were too expensive for widespread use. In the case of clock towers and grandfather clocks, a particular sequence of tones may be played to represent the hour. One common pattern is called the "Westminster Quarters," a sixteen-note pattern named after the Palace of Westminster which popularized it as the measure used by "Big Ben". Bells as musical instruments. Some bells are used as musical instruments, such as carillons, (clock) chimes, or ensembles of bell-players, called bell choirs, using hand-held bells of varying tones. A "ring of bells" is a set of 4 to twelve bells or more used in change ringing, a particular method of ringing bells in patterns. A peal in changing ringing may have bells playing for several hours, playing 5,000 or more patterns without a break or repetition.. Ancient Chinese bells. The ancient Chinese bronze chime bells called bianzhong or (鐘) are among the highest achievements of Chinese bronze casting technology. These chime bells were used as polyphonic musical instruments and some of these bells have been dated at between 2000 to 3600 years old. The secret of the design and the method of casting zhong bells, which was known only to the Chinese in antiquity, was lost in later generations. It was not fully rediscovered and understood until 1978, when a complete ceremonial set of 65 "zhong" bells was found in a near-perfect state of preservation during the excavation of the of Marquis Yi, who died ca. 430BCE. Yi was ruler of Zeng, one of the Warring States which at the time of his death was under control of the Chǔ state. This region is now part of the present-day Hubei province. Although tuned bells have been created and used for musical performance in many cultures, zhong are unique among all other types of cast bells in several respects. They have a lens-shaped (rather than circular) section and the bell mouth has a distinctive "cutaway" profile, and this special shape gives zhong bells the remarkable ability to produce, depending on where they are struck. The interval between these notes on each bell is either a major or minor third, equivalent to a distance of four or five notes on a piano.. The bells of Marquis Yi, which are still fully playable after almost 2500 years, cover a range of slightly less than five octaves but thanks to their twin-tone capability, the set can sound a complete 12-tone scale, predating the development of the European 12-tone system by some 2000 years, and can play melodies in diatonic and pentatonic scales These bells usually have inscriptions on them from which scholars used as references for studying ancient Chinese writings (also known as Bronzeware script). Another related ancient Chinese musical instrument is called qing (pinyin qing4) but it was made of stone instead of metal. Konguro'o. Konguro'o is a small bell, which as well as Djalaajyn firstly had the utilitarian purposes and only after artistic ones. Konguro'o sounded by the time of moving to the new places, being fastened to the horse harness it created very specific "smart" sound background. Konguro'o also hanged on the neck of leader goat, which leads the flock of sheep in some definite direction. That is why in folk memory almost magic sound of konguro'o was associated with nomadic mode of life. To make this instrument Kyrgyz foremen used cooper, bronze, iron and brass. They also decorated it with artistic carving and covered with silver. Sizes of the instruments might vary in considerable limits, what depended on its function. Every bell had its own timbre. Chimes. A variant on the bell is the tubular bell. Several of these metal tubes which are struck manually with hammers, form an instrument named "tubular bells" or "chimes". In the case of wind or aeolian chimes, the tubes are blown against one another by the wind. Farm bells. Whereas the church and temple bells called to mass or religious service, bells were used on farms for more secular signaling. The greater farms in Scandinavia usually had a small bell-tower resting on the top of the barn. The bell was used to call the workers from the field at the end of the day's work. In folk tradition, it is recorded that each church and possibly several farms had their specific rhymes connected to the sound of the specific bells. An example is the Pete Seeger song "The Bells of Rhymney". |