Figure 1.-.

I should mention a little about the terms we used both for our home clothes and school uniform items. This is important I think because I have noted differences with the terms we used and modern terms. Even as a boy I noticed differences between ters we used and the oes use by Mum and Gran. There is also differences between our terms and American clothing terms which can cause some confusion.

Hosiery

We just called them socks. If my Mum said "Hurry up and get your socks on" and it was a school morning what socks was obvious or of course a schoolmaster saying "Pull your socks up,boy!" wouldn't have referred to a boy wearing long trousers and short socks (I don't think unless it was in the figurative sense!). I don't even think they were called kneesocks in the back to school adverts or catalogues - some socks were called "knee-high socks" in adverts but these were mainly girls' white socks as opposed to ankle socks or boys grey socks once turnover top socks became less common (grey knee high socks being sold to be worn with short trousers for school but not specifically "school socks" which were sold for school only as they had the school colours on them - although as I said we did wear them at other times too). Some adverts and school uniform lists said "stockings" to mean knee high socks and so did my Gran which we boys always found funny as stockings to us were what women wore ("nylons"). My gran did call short socks "ankle socks" as in "You're not sending them out in those little ankle socks are you?" in a tone as if Mum were sending us out into the street stark naked! I sometimes copied my Gran and said "Why do I have to wear ankle socks?" in order to try to make her change her mind but I'd never have normally used the term outside of the house.

Trousers

The same went for our shorts - Mum just called them "trousers" as in "Just wait while I iron your trousers" which meant our school shorts or whatever.

School Trousers

Adverts and catalogues often just called shorts "shorts" but if it said "school trousers" then they meant long trousers and were for older boys. Mum sometimes called them "pants" when she reverted to her Yorkshire speak because Gran called them "pants" too which seemed odd too as "pants" to us were our underpants which Gran called "trunks" or "drawers".To add to the confusion my Grandad sometimes called our shorts "knickers" which to us were girls' underwear and considered as something of a "rude" word.

Jeans

Our only long trousers before we got them for school (and my brother for scouts before that) were jeans and Mum just called them "jeans" typically "You're not going out with me wearing those jeans" to my brother when he started to prefer wearing long trousers at home after he got them for school. She also called jean shorts just "jeans" and funnily enough after the care she had taken over me and my brother's appearance for school and so on she let my little brother wear jean shorts to his non-uniform primary school after we moved. I particularly remember her putting him in a white shirt to start on his first day at the school (which was just like on our first day back at primary school had been) and then saying "come on let's get you into your jeans" by which she meant jean shorts which she had bought for him much to my annoynce as I had wanted a pair earlier that Summer and I hadn't been allowed them. It just seemed so odd to me Mum dressing my brother in jeans to go to school when she wouldn't have even let us wear them to go shopping with her. Now I realise that she wanted him to fit in with the other boys at the school as he was starting in the 2nd year juniors as before we moved he had attended the same primary school as me and my brother had. I don't know how he felt about not having to wear uniform but when he went to secondary school it did have a uniform so he had to get used to it again! My aunt,who was Scottish, called jeans "dungarees" and she didn't approve of them under any circumstances so when I went up their I never wore them and had to borrow some of my cousin's clothes. (That was when I was older and went up on my own - Mum would never have let me pack jeans to go up to Yorkshire if she had known about it).

Cord Shorts

The same was with our cord shorts - we just called them "cords" and in that case it was my brother who normally asked "Why do I have to wear cords?" and my Mum's answer was "Because ..." which said it all really as that meant that she wasn't prepared to discuss the matter further and if we knew what was good for us nor would we!With me it was more like "Why can't I wear my cords?"

Because!

when she was getting us dressed up to go visiting and she just said "because" and held out my best school shorts or (in the case of Leeds) my check shorts for me to step into. If I was sulking later on the way to the tube - which I often was not so much over what I was wearing but over having to go visiting on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon instead of playing with my local friends - Mum would take me aside and say "If I have to take you home your trousers and pants are coming down". We knew exactly what that meant regardless of what we were wearing at the time and that was enough to have me snap out of it. To be fair I ususally enjoyed visiting Mums friends as she would be in a good mood afterwards even if she had been in a rush to make sure that we looked smart before setting off and so a bit sharp with us. When it came to Leeds there was both good and bad too - I always liked seeing my cousin Robert who was almost exactly the same age as me (and still is) but sometimes Gran's clothing rules seemed worse than any that Mum or the school could have!

Underwear

We just followed Mum in this - except when she used "pants" for trousers which made us laugh!

Clothing Discusions

In general at home we did not discuss clothes that much - just argue over them from time to time. Mum put them out for us for school , visiting, Sunday school,s hopping and so and we picked out our playclothes from below the airing cupboard when we got home.

Bill