2009年7月9日星期四

a tuxedo, a dinner jacket, a waistcoat and tails

What's the difference between a tuxedo, a dinner jacket, a waistcoat and tails? Believe it or not, the tuxedo was designed as informal dinner wear for the Prince of Wales, in 1860. The prince invited a guest, James Potter of Tuxedo Park, NY, to have a similar jacket made for himself. When Potter first wore the jacket at the Tuxedo Park Club, on this date in 1886, it made such a big hit that it became standard dress for informal dinners there. Known locally as a tuxedo, a few years later most people outside America were calling it a dinner jacket. A waistcoat, by the way, is a kind of vest that the British once wore for formal dress. A tailcoat has a long, rounded split tail at the back.

Quote

"Just because you put a guy in a tuxedo, it doesn't mean he's a good guy." — Allen Iverson

As with the penguin's tuxedo, the panda's two-toned coat very likely
serves a twofold purpose. On the one hand, it helps a feeding bear
blend peacefully into the dappled backdrop of bamboo. On the other,
the sharp contrast between light and dark may serve as a social
signal, helping the solitary bears locate each other when the time has
come to find the perfect, too-cute mate.

tuxedo

1. A man's dress jacket, usually black with satin or grosgrain lapels, worn for formal or semiformal occasions. Also called dinner jacket.
2. A complete outfit including this jacket, trousers usually with a silken stripe down the side, a bow tie, and often a cummerbund.

[Short for Tuxedo coat, after a country club at Tuxedo Park, a village of southeast New York.]
(© Houghton Mifflin Company)