Time to hang up the trousers

[Charlie]

Came in from work, flopped down on the sofa. The Australian soap 'Neighbours' was on the TV. Two male characters, Toadfish and Nick were talking. Nick was trying to get Toadfish to stop his laddish behaviour and well .... grow up.

Then Nick said (or it sounded like) "It's time to hang up the trousers" the implication being that it's time to be a bit more mature. Is this an Australian saying, or was he just equating trouser wearing with being 'one of the lads'

Neither of them went to put on skirts though

Or perhaps I just heard wrong.

Charlie

[gshubert]

That's what I do when I come home after work: hang up the trousers and put on a skirt. My favorites recently have been a long black silk skirt if I'm staying at home, and a calf-length black rayon/nylon (stretchy) skirt if I'm going back out. I've also got a tan corduroy 8-gore skirt that's about 32 inches long. Its circumference is about 96 inches at the hem. It looks nice, my wife says, and is certainly fun to wear. (Sorry, no pictures; have misplaced the camera somewhere.)

My son (14) doesn't seem to mind my skirts. This week, for example, we were out to see a movie and do some shopping together. His male friends who've come over have seen me in skirts. I don't know whether they say anything when I'm away. I hope they see that it's okay to make one's own choices, whether for clothes or anything else, and not automatically go along with whatever one's peers are doing.

My wife was a little nervous at first when I wore skirts out and about. Since she worked hard as a teenager to get a high school dress code changed so women could wear pants, she decided to subordinate her anxiety about what others might say or think to support for my alternative clothing choices. Now neither of us worries about what other people might think.

I wear skirts to church, and folks are accepting and curious. At one gathering a young girl (maybe kindergarten age) asked if I was wearing a skirt and I smiled and said yes, which seemed to satisfy her, because off she went. Another time an adult at church was curious enough to ask me directly why I wore skirts and I said, comfort first, and wanting to have more choices, and liking to be different.

I feel comfortable and at ease wearing skirts; and I think that's part of the reason (habituation may be another part) no one said anything about the Utilikilt I wore to my wife's family Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. So I am thankful I have such a supportive family and accepting in-laws.

[trainman]

Never heard the saying before in my life.

And i've heard some rippers.

"Dead Horse" with ya chips?

[Big and Bashful]

Sorry, I presume it's a tailoring term, but what does "8-gore" mean?

[crfriend]

Sorry, I presume it's a tailoring term, but what does "8-gore" mean?

Correct, B&B, it is a tailoring term.

Specifically, it refers to the number of vertical sections of fabric that make up the conical shape of the skirt. It's not a manufacturing technique used often in straight skirts, because they don't need it; it's a tactic used for wide flowing skirts that have extremely long dimensions around the hem, and it's used because it makes for (1) more efficient use of fabric in the manufacturing process and (2) helps the finished skirt drape better.

So, GShubert's 8-gore skirt is one that has eight vertical panels (each of which will be vaguely triangular, but rounded at the "top" and "bottom" -- hem and waist, respectively) that make up the shape of the skirt, which, as he points out, has a very large circumfrence at the "base" of the cone (the "point", if it existed, would probably be around the shoulders). Some of my favourites are have six gores.

Cheers.

[AMM]

...
So, GShubert's 8-gore skirt ..., which, as he points out, has a very large [96in.] circumfrence at the "base" of the cone ...

"Very large" being a matter of perspective.

The skirt I am wearing now, which I consider one of my straighter skirts, has a 100" hem. My 6-gore skirt that I wore last night Contra dancing is about 26" long and has about a 180" hem, as I recall. Great fun when you spin while dancing. (But it's a lot of fabric to gather together when you get into the car.)

-- AMM