Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Khaki Konundrum

There is a colour much in fashion these last couple of years, for men as well as women. Many retailers call it khaki. This always confuses me. The khaki I have always known is a yellowish light brown, the colour once of army uniforms & those big old fashioned bell tents we used to sleep in at one of the big organised jamboree Guide camps

Todays version is green. If pushed I might call it olive drab, which used to be the colour of GI uniforms

That is not the only source of confusion. Walking past Harvey Nicks I overheard a woman say to her friend I really must buy that cackey blouse.

Huh? Why would she want it if she doesn’t like it? Then the penny dropped

My husband confused me in the early days by his oft repeated wish for a pair of cakey pants. So why not just buy some? I used to assume it must be some difficult-to-find fabric, sort of like cavalry twill, perhaps a bit thick & spongy. And didn't Bertie Wooster used to wear something called sponge-bag trousers?


The correct pronunciation is car-key. At least that’s how my parents taught me to say it, & they both wore the uniform, so they should know

So there