A sweater is, at first glance, an ordinary, familiar and understandable word. But if you dig deeper, it turns out that not everyone knows exactly what it really means. For example, not everyone will immediately say how a sweater differs from a pullover or sweater. Therefore, it will be interesting to consider the lexical meaning of the word “sweater”, its origin and make small discoveries.
Vocabulary Understanding
How is the meaning of “sweater” reflected in the dictionary? This wardrobe item says that it is a warm knitted sweatshirt that has a high collar. Since she has no fasteners, she is worn over her head. ("Nyana Petrovna thought that the gusts of wind became stronger, and she decided that Alyosha should wear a sweater over her warm shirt, just in case, which she knitted.")
It is interesting, but how correctly does the name of the object under consideration in the plural sound: "sweaters" or "sweaters"? As the spelling dictionary tells us, both options are true and literary. So you can safely use each of them not only in colloquial, but also in written speech.
Clothes for slimming
To better understand the meaning of the word “sweater”, we turn to the history of the knitwear, which is called this term. In its final form, its style was formed around the middle of the 19th century. It was based on traditional casual clothing, which was preferred by residents of the northern part of the European continent.
Widespread use of sweaters that were knitted from wool was discovered by the end of the 19th century. Attention, here comes an unexpected moment! Doctors suggest wearing it not only as a means of warming in cold weather, but also as clothing ... for weight loss!
Life hack from English doctors
The fact is that doctors began to recommend a certain innovation to their patients who were overweight, as one of the means to achieve a slim figure. It should be noted that the scheme was pretty straightforward. Just doing physical exercises, you had to put on a sweater - the thicker (and therefore warmer), the better.
In such a cocoon, doing the exercises is, of course, uncomfortable and hot, but very effective! Naturally, patients during this "execution" mercilessly sweated, and their excess fat melted before our eyes. And how will “sweat” in their language? - in English it is to sweat, from which the word sweater came from. But I wonder why modern trainers and nutritionists are silent about this?
Some details
So, thanks to the dictionary, we found out that a sweater is a knitted thing that is intended for warming the upper body. She never has fasteners, pockets, a hood, she has long sleeves. A characteristic feature of the sweater is a high collar that fits around the neck. It can be rolled back in the form of two or even three layers, depending on its height and desire to warm up to a greater or lesser extent.
The sweater is knitted from a thick or medium thickness woolen yarn, sometimes from a half-woolen one. For knitting use knitting needles or a hook, less often sweaters are made on special machines, since they are still characterized by large knitting. Its type may be the most diverse, but for a collar and cuffs, as a rule, they prefer "elastic" of different types.
Another distinctive feature of the sweater is that from ancient times it was decorated with bright ornaments, as well as patterns that look like reliefs and braids. At the same time, both large knitting and large details and patterns always prevailed.
In order not to get confused
There are a number of wearable things that are often confused with a sweater. This, for example, a jumper, pullover, sweater, sweatshirt. How to distinguish them from a sweater? It turns out very simple. Here is a quick cheat sheet to help you stay clear of them:
- A jumper is a round collar, fine knitting, the absence of a collar and, as a rule, the absence of a fastener (if it happens, then rarely and no more than 10 cm in length), it can be woolen or knitted.
- Pullover is a neckline resembling the Latin letter V, medium-sized knit and always without any fasteners, knitted or woolen.
- A sweater is always a fastener from top to bottom, always knitted, can have a hood and pockets.
- A sweatshirt is something in the middle between a sweater and a shirt, which is reflected both in the appearance and in the name of this product. It is sewn of dense knitwear and has a round neckline that fits right up to the throat, without pockets, zippers and a hood.
Having considered the features of these products, we can conclude that the sweater among them distinguish:
- Mandatory presence of a stand-up collar.
- Lack of fasteners, pockets, hood.
- Knitted texture.
- Coarse knitting.
- Relief and patterns.
But the most striking distinctive element is, of course, a stand-up collar. Looking at the photo of the sweater and seeing the collar there, you can immediately cast aside all doubts and make sure that it is he, and not a pullover, sweater, sweater or sweatshirt.
History tour
At the end of the 19th century, when the sweater spread throughout Northern Europe, it was appreciated by fishermen, since a warm high collar allowed them to do without a scarf. At the beginning of the 20th century, sweaters also fell in love with athletes involved in winter sports, such as skating and skiing. This knitted product and pilots, sailors, submariners did not bypass their attention. From the 1920s to the 1970s, it was included in the military uniform in many countries.
The unforgettable Coco Chanel became the conductor of sweaters in the realm of high fashion. She took this bold step in the 30s of the last century, when she brought to the catwalk models who demonstrated how sweaters look on their fragile figures.
However, in the future, the feminization process of this initially masculine attribute has somewhat tightened. The surge in his popularity with the fair sex was evident in the 1960s, which was greatly facilitated by such iconic figures as Hollywood sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, director Ed Wood, and Playboy magazine, which advertised women's sweaters. As a result, there was even a special designation in English for the newly emerged fashionable image - sweater girl, which can be roughly translated as “a full-bosomed girl in a tight sweater”.
But in the 1970s there was a new boom - synthetic - and the popularity of natural sweaters fell sharply. They were replaced by acrylic products. But already in the 1980s, in Eastern Europe and the USSR, attention to woolen sweaters returned in the wake of the increased availability of knitting machines and knitting magazines for the general population. This allowed Soviet women to somehow cope with the deficit and show individuality. Today, a sweater is still a thing that is popular with both the male and female part of the population.