Haberdasher
I really wanted to go with holdfast today, in honor of last night's Game of Thrones episode, but after researching it this morning, Martin apparently made that word up, at least in the context of it being some kind of small medieval fort or fortification.
So instead, you get haberdasher. It's on the mind because my sister is getting married this summer.
hab·er·dash·er [hab-er-dash-er] n. a retail dealer in men's furnishings, as shirts, ties, gloves, socks, and hats
Synonyms: clothier
Etymology: early 14c., "seller of various small articles of trade" (late 13c. as a surname), agent noun from Anglo-Fr. hapertas "small wares," also a kind of fabric, of unknown origin. Sense of "dealer in men's wares" is 1887 in Amer.Eng., via intermediate sense of "seller of caps."
68 comments:
I love fun words like that that rhyme with rhetoric devices. So fun.
So? Will you be wearing a hat at the wedding? LOve the Game of Thrones too.
Quite an old fashioned word, I remember when I was young mum taking me to the Hberdasher's.
Wonderful H word and post.
Yvonne.
Nothing wrong with haberdasher.
I hope you find a great Haberdasher in time for your sister's wedding! Yay!
take care
x
Great word, not one we hear all that often these days. I love learning about word origins!
Sounds like a shop you'd go to for spices.
And you'd look cool in a top hat.
Oh fun! is it weird this word sounds like something from Alice in Wonderland? The mad hatter might get his hats from a haberdasher!;)
This is one of those words that gives me a visual image in total contrast to what it actually represents. Sounds like some evil gnome from far-far-away. lol
This word definitely does not sound like what it means.
Bummed about the 'Game of Thrones' (no commercial TV) still debating buying the first season. (Can't wait to see what excuse Amazon will have to not sell it to me.) Enjoy it for me, will ya?
Another new word for me! Love the picture, and you watch GoT, too?! After last night's episode, this EW write-up flitted across The Hubby's Twitter: http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/game-of-thrones-night-lands/
Read, laugh, watch episode 2 over again, then laugh some more. Good stuff.
This is one of those words that can only come out of certain character's mouths? My retired Marine Gunny wouldn't dare say it ; )
Hi...I'm hopping over from the A to Z challenge. Lovely post...good luck with the challenge. I love the word Haberdasher!
Donna L Martin
www.donasdays.blogspot.com
Haberdashery, it just sounds so jaunty.
Cool! I am going to use this word tonight on my boyfriend. He is a clothes horse of sorts and he has been checking the net for his suit for our wedding. This will throw him for a loop :)
I think holdfast should count. It SOUNDS like a real word, and Martin gets free license to make up as many as he'd like in my book. But haberdasher has a great ring to it too. Awesome post.
I've seen / heard this word but never knew what it really meant, cool bit of new knowledge to start the week.
I learned something new today. Can't wait to get out there today and use it on someone. Thanks! Oh, ummm ... is today the letter H?
This probably sounds soooo silly but I hear that word a lot because of iCarly. Yes, the childrens show which I get a kick out of watching on occassion. One of Carly's arch-nemesis' wants to be a haberdasher when he grows up. My kids walk around saying it all the time now.
I would have gone for holdfast. A made up word opens worlds for interpretation - much more fun than a fussy old hatter.
http://badmoodgoodmood.blogspot.com/
I'm partial to "old" so I LOVE your selection, Matt! Like "cobbler"...some people don't even know what that is!!!...:)JP
I've always loved that word ever since I saw it in a Bombay Company catalogue! It just sounds so elegant & debonair! (But isn't it awesome that authors can simply make up words?)
SUCH a great word! I wish i had reason to use it more
This is one of those "funky" words - I like it!
Holdfast sounds like a word. I'm surprised it's not.
Haberdashery is a great word though.
I didn't know holdfast was a madeup word.
Words are strange and haberdasher is odder than some.
I can't help but hear the word with a British accent.
Are there still haberdasheries outside the U.K.?
Off to the haberdashery! After I finish my pint, of course.
Are you going to get something for the wedding at the haberdashery?
Fascinating where words come from, isn't it? Especially when they're not what people sometimes thing they really are.
Just because Martin made up a word doesn't make it any less real. You should have blogged about it and then shown pictures from Martin's world or something like that.
and all this time i thought is was a special kind of hat!
*word fail*
Game of thrones is a great show. Heard the word and knew it meant something like that, but now I know for sure that a haberdasher isn't some regal flasher..haha
That's a cruel reminder that we don't have that many great words for everyday things - well, I'm still a fan of cobbler, but as soon as something awesome gets used, people start coming up with lamer words to substitute for it.
That's poppycock!
I really love the word haberdasher. As a matter of fact, I think the title "Haberdashery of Tall Tales" would make a great blog title or tagline.
I have heard the word but never knew what it meant! Thank you for sharing! I love the picture you included as well :)
Visiting from A to Z Challenge!
http://lawyergirlruns86.blogspot.com/2012/04/h-is-for-high-heels.html
I've always liked that word. I'm sure if I had to use it on a regular basis I wouldn't, though.
Shannon at The Warrior Muse, co-host of the 2012 #atozchallenge! Twitter: @AprilA2Z
This totally makes me think of that Friends episode when Chandler gets violated by Joey's Tailor. Hehehe.
I love that word, but it always seems like there should be an extra -er on the end - haberdasherer...
Love that word. How sad that it has fallen (relatively) into the realm of obsolescence.
I've always loved that word, haberdasher. It tickles the tongue and sounds very elegant.
Hope the wedding is splendid.
Just stopped in to say hi from the A to Z Blogging Challenge
http://writegame.blogspot.com
love a hat on a man--a young friend of mine recently inquired of me--just why was it unsavory for men to keep their hats on in a building--wasn't sure :)
Believe it or not,I knew this one. I haven't seen Game of Thrones. I've been meaning to start reading them. Soon.
I love saying the word. It thrills my tongue.
Teresa
I have seen that word in a lot of books, but never did know what it was. Or even think to stop reading and look it up.
Now, I know!
Thanks for the knowledge.
i've always wonder what that word meant
Haberdasher has been used in a book I read last year. Can't remember which one.
Anyway a word I did not forget.
I love the stylish look of the hat shown in the image you used for this post. The word haberdasher is one I have enjoyed for as long as I can recall, it's pretty fun to say out loud too.
Thanks for the visit!
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always loved saying the word 'Haberdasher'. It's just a fun word - something you really have to move your mouth to say properly! Great post!
Texas Playwright Chick
always loved saying the word 'Haberdasher'. It's just a fun word - something you really have to move your mouth to say properly! Great post!
Texas Playwright Chick
I wonder if that's at all related to balderdash.
But I'm not looking it up...
So a clothier haberdashes? Love it! I guess if I'm buying clothes, that makes me the haberdashee.
I love language and words. There is always something new to learn.
Has the Haberdasher been sufficiently helpful in getting you ready for your sister's wedding?
Do they come with or without the rabbit? :)
Thank you for helping me to learn a new word today. A wedding is so much fun! I have two this June. I am so excited!
Blessings
I was just singing "Soldier, Soldier" to my sons the other day - you know, the song about the maiden who keeps asking the soldier to marry her, and he keeps putting her off by protesting that he can't marry her without nicer pants/shoes/hat, so she goes off to the haberdasher and buys him the best she can find, until the end when he tells her thanks, but he's already got a wife and a baby at home. The rascal.
Great word! It brings back fond childhood memories of singing that some with my own mom. :-)
I'm actually watching Game of Thrones as I type. But haberdasher is a fine word as well.
Laura B Writer
Hi Matthew - it means something different in England .. isn't it interesting how words change meaning ..
Here we go to a haberdashers to buy thread, buttons, sequins, ribbon, needles, pins etc etc .. they're now often a department within a soft-furnishing store .. I used to love wandering around them .. so much to see ..
Great fun - enjoy your trip to your Haberdasher's .. for some 'wedding attire' ... the wedding will be great .. cheers Hilary
The original metrosexual!
Such a weird word when/if you hear someone say it.
I love hats! A Sharp Dressed Man will always turn heads. I'm sure that's what you'll be for the wedding.
BTW - I knew that 'hold' was a name for the old basic fort structures before castles and such became more viable. 'Holdfast' I haven't heard of before.
I still go to the only habdashers in town only here in the UK it is a place to buy small articles for sewing - such as needles, thread, lace, fastenings etc some materials and yarns - word changed as it went across the pond:) thanks for dropping by
In Jamaica, the term has come to mean a shop where anything from a pin to an anchor is sold.
That kind of fashion needs to make a resurgence I think :)
Jamie
Fellow A-Z Bloggy Buddy
Mithril Wisdom
I think this word is too close to "balderdash" so all I can think of is shouting "haberdash!" if someone is talking nonsense. :-)
Only reason I know what a Haberdashery is, is that it was on an eposide of iCarly... So sad.
LOVE Game of Thrones... reading the series, which is why I've been so incredibly lax in my blog commenting...
=]V[=
The Brew Newb
Love this word. A couple years ago I worked on a show that come over from London and there was a box labeled Haberdahery.
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