There's been an increase in LL activity of late.

Why would anyone want to discuss ,button boots?

They're utter shite.

End of story.

Redundancy* ad infinitum?

What's new in button-hooks?

*For the British mates there's a definition other than layoff http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Redundancy

I've just come back from a funeral. Old school Greek Orthodox where the priest said/sung not one word of English and old ladies dressed in black  lit candles and kissed ikons. Most of the men wore dark suits and ties with a few of the old codgers in (traditional for this area)  suit pants, leather jackets and open necked white shirts. The coffin was open which is a change from the usual funerals I go to and the deceased had on his own dark suit and tie. The day was suitably icy cold and windy.

Thats the background.

I got back to one of my offices and a colleague who is on a similar VP* level to me on some different organisations, was there in jeans, checked shirt and loose jacket.

He said "ahh I couldn't get to the funeral - I see you are old fashioned like me - not only do you wear a dark suit but you have a plain black tie on too - no body bothers these days - whys that" - He said "I'll talk to you about it later - gotta go"

So its not just me or a few idiot screen jockeys from usa and canada


* I think I'm warming to this VP thingo - we might try it here - trouble is nobody knows what it means - so it impresses no one.

Before rock and roll kids and adolescents dressed like small adults - after rock n roll adult men dressed like kids seeking eternal adolescence.

I'd agree that there are large number of people who appreciate rather than practice and I've found that with a modicum of sensitivity and empathy (which after all is what civility and propriety is about) one can wear a suit and tie almost anywhere without offending gratuitously. (Offending deliberately is another matter entirely) One doesn't wear a bright blue suit with honkin broad chalk stripes and extreme cutaway contrasting collar with gold links on a huge french cuff to a factory floor meeting. (perhaps some wouldn't wear it anywhere) But a restrained sober suit and tie etc won't get too many offside unless you are a total prick.

The concern for dilapidated standards of others is in my case occasionally out of concerns for others. The mens suit outfit is one of the few real levelers possible - it can be worn well by kings as well as those cats* who gaze upon them. Suits allow a poor manual labourer to confidently take his place at, say,  a funeral in a room full of diplomats or captains of industry for one  wearer will look to most to be as well dressed as all others.##



## the small improvement in look made possible by wealth, as opposed to the difference made by wearing it well, will not be noticed by many at all.

* small word play - hepcats** / felines

**The origin of this proverb is unknown. What is known is that it is found first in print in a famous early collection of English proverbs, The Proverbs And Epigrams Of John Heywood, 1562:

Some hear and see him whom he heareth nor seeth not
But fields have eyes and woods have ears, ye wot
And also on my maids he is ever tooting.
Can ye judge a man, (quoth I), by his looking?
What, a cat may look on a king, ye know!
My cat's leering look, (quoth she), at first show,
Showeth me that my cat goeth a caterwauling;
And specially by his manner of drawing
To Madge, my fair maid.

In 1713, Oswald Dykes published English proverbs with moral reflexions. This used various well-known proverbs as a starting point for Dykes' to pronounce his political and social values. In this extract it isn't clear which king he was protecting, as Queen Anne was the British monarch at the time:

Tis very true, Kings do not use to call Cats to an Account for their looks, or their undistinguishing Boldness: But there are many Cats of this Kind, which are too much made of, indulg'd, and encourag'd, 'till they fly at last in the Face of sacred Majesty. In this Sense, it is a true-blue Protestant-Proverb. I do not know whether it was calculated for the Rabble or not; to pur and mew like Cats about a Throne, 'till at length they scratch the Hand that strokes them, and mob their Protector. However, there has been ill use made on't; and it has often been extravagantly misapply'd to Outrage and Violence upon a King's Person, as well in Print, as in some Peoples Mouths.

Last edited by fxh (2010-08-31 20:55:33)