Last Friday night, I was helping one of my pals shop for a suit to wear for a professional conference on Saturday morning. We were in a high-end department store, and the manager of the women’s department was pulling garments off racks left and right. One notable item was a single-button, long-sleeved, cardigan-like sweater.
“This is what we call a ’swacket,’” she said brightly. “It’s a combination sweater and jacket.”
Apparently, the cardigan is the new jacket this season.
My pal raised her eyebrows at me, but took it into the dressing room anyway. She tried it on and we both agreed that it would not do.
“I’m suspicious of clothing with an identity crisis,” I said. “Like skorts.”
(Does anyone over the age of five ever wear skorts? Anyone? Anyone?)
I related this little adventure to another friend of mine this morning. After agreeing with me that “swacket” sounds like a noise her cat used to make when slapping someone at Jackie-Chan-like speeds, she said “If you wear a ’swacket’ with a ’skort’, is it a ’swoot’?”
It’s certainly something you shouldn’t leave the house wearing. Because, as yet another (straight, male, satorially indifferent) friend of mine observed, it would look like “swit”.