Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm and Six Cousins Again

[floragord]

You'd not have appreciated our school, it was cold water baths all year round and the windows nailed open so we enjoyed plenty of fresh and frosty air... and sandals were forbidden both at school and at home, freedom was choosing to wear them when I could make my own decisions...

I've always been puzzled as to why Cyril is ridiculed for wearing sandals. I thought that perhaps sandals were regarded as effeminate back in the 1940s, but Floragord's post suggests that they were frowned upon for girls too. I haven't heard any criticism of sandals during my own lifetime (I was born in 1970) so I'm mystified! Can anyone explain why Cyril was jeered at for wearing them?! Maybe it wasn't the done thing out in the countryside, where sturdy boots were the most practical footwear?

As I recall it was considered "unseemly," and anyone who wasn't wearing proper socks and shoes or - as one got older - stockings and shoes was "not adequately turned out", sandals or slips were only considered suitable at bath and bedtime and never to be seen in public! I'm sure by 1970 such hidebound rules and regulations had disappeared - except probably from girls' boarding schools and certain army households!

[Courtenay]

I remember buying some slightly trendy thongs (flip-flops for the Americans lol) in maybe the early 80s and my Dad saying 'I thought they were only for girls',

I am so, so, glad you put in an explanation in brackets . I would've thought about this sentence for ages if you hadn't.

Don't worry, in Australia we all know what "the other" meaning of "thongs" is — and we still persist in using the word for our own meaning of it (i.e. the footwear), because that is our dialect and we're not going to have it changed on account of other countries' sensibilities. (We just use a different term for the underwear.) But it does make for some amusing jokes and awkward situations for furriners who don't realise what we're talking about.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Thanks for the information about the wearing of sandals, Floragord!

[Jack400]

I remember buying some slightly trendy thongs (flip-flops for the Americans lol) in maybe the early 80s and my Dad saying 'I thought they were only for girls',

I am so, so, glad you put in an explanation in brackets . I would've thought about this sentence for ages if you hadn't.

Don't worry, in Australia we all know what "the other" meaning of "thongs" is — and we still persist in using the word for our own meaning of it (i.e. the footwear), because that is our dialect and we're not going to have it changed on account of other countries' sensibilities. (We just use a different term for the underwear.) But it does make for some amusing jokes and awkward situations for furriners who don't realise what we're talking about.

What, dare I ask, is the Aussie term for underware? If it's not suitable for 'forum' use you can always PM me. - I have a week off work to recover.

[Courtenay]

Well, just underwear, when it's underwear in general. For, er, stringy panties of the sort that are called a "thong" elsewhere, we usually use the term "G-string". No, I don't know what it stands for and I'd rather not go looking it up, but anyone else can feel free to if they're really interested...

[Boatbuilder]

'G-String' is also a term that has been in use here for a similar garment, Courtenay. However, it has usually been associated with strippers.

I wonder if it got its 'name' from the thickest, and lowest of the violin's four strings - G, D, A & E? (which is still thin) 'Air on a G-String' comes to mind.

[floragord]

Thanks for the information about the wearing of sandals, Floragord!

Not at all, it was an amusing trip down memory lane as things have changed so vastly in what's "suitable" or otherwise - having said that two of my younger relations are still at school and although they can sport sandals for "mufti" are still expected to wear closed footwear with any uniform items.

[Darrell71]

What does mufti mean? I googled it and can't seem to find any sort of explanation haha

[Daisy]

It means being out of uniform - your own casual clothes.

[joanne_chan]

Interestingly, the origin of the term Mufti is Arabic which means an Islamic Scholar. It has been used since 1816 by the British Army as term for more relaxed "pipe and slippers" look which was likened to the Oriental dress of the Mufti.

It's the kind of thing that fascinates me...

[Jack400]

"It's the kind of thing that fascinates me..."

And me. Thanks for sharing, Joanne.

[floragord]

Interestingly, the origin of the term Mufti is Arabic which means an Islamic Scholar. It has been used since 1816 by the British Army as term for more relaxed "pipe and slippers" which was likened to the Oriental dress of the Mufti.

It's the kind of thing that fascinates me...

I didn't know that, Joanne, thanks for sharing - I'd taken it for granted the word was originally picked up in India by the army, as in such terms as "char" for tea, "dhobi" for clothes laundering and "God wallah" for chaplain!

[Wolfgang]

I think the first time I encountered "mufti" was the German edition of "Tintin in Tibet" when Captain Haddock was throwing around titles to address the abbot of the Tibetan Monastery, calling him (among others) Großmufti (great-mufti).

[Courtenay]

I think he calls him that in the English version as well! (I don't have a copy here, but it's one of my favourite Tintin books.)

[Pohutukawa]

I often re-read Six Cousins at Mistletoe Farm, and Six Cousins Again.
When I was a child I enjoyed the descriptions of country life; when I grew up I appreciated the depiction of the adults and their personalities.
I read these books aloud to my children and found some of the scenes moving and insightful, particularly where David and Rose are utterly at cross-purposes.