THEORY READING - TEXTILES METAPHORS

SOME COLLOQUIAL EXPRESSIONS WITH TEXTILE ORIGINS

... Cut from the same cloth - Have the same essential characteristics. The expression comes from the time when cloth was cut to order ...

Dyed-in-the-wool - Thoroughgoing or complete; deeply ingrained; out-and-out. Wool that was dyed before it was spun or woven was most evenly and thoroughly coloured.

Fair to middling - Usually used to express quality (medium), although the term is also used to express a state of mind. The expression originated in 19th-century cotton mills. 'Fair to middling' cotton was good, but not the best.

Get down to brass tacks - Be precise or specific. The expression comes form tacks that were used to measure cloth on the counter of a dry goods store.

Get one's hackles up (raise one's hackles) - Implies one is on the offensive, with sharp barbs standing upright. The image comes from the hackle (also called heckle, hatchel), a large comb with iron teeth used to straighten and align flax finer before spinning.

Heirloom - An object or property that is passed down to one's heirs. The expression indicates how valuable looms once were, since such equipment was worth bequeathing to the next generation.

Put on sackcloth and ashes - Implies one is repentant, enough to put on the roughest fabric as a sign of humility and an admission or responsibility or guilt.

Roll out the red carpet - To welcome with great hospitality or ceremony, make someone feel special, or treat them as if they are a celebrity. The phrase comes from a practice known in the ancient Mediterranean world. Red dyestuffs were labour-intensive to produce and large red textiles were thus very expensive. Placing such a textile under someone's feet - literally having a person walk on it when it was so valuable - showed just how important the person was.

Shoddy - Poor quality. Originally, shoddy was a manufactured cloth made from unravelled and rewoven old fibres; it did not hold up well.

Sleazy - Corrupt, distasteful, cheap. Comes from Silesia cloth, a poor quality linen fabric made in Silesia (now in Poland) ...

To be on tenterhooks - To be in a state of uncomfortable suspension. Tenterhooks were used to stretch and block cloth after it was woven. The related word 'tent' refers to a stretched cloth shelter.

To cotton on - To be attracted to; comes from the electrically charged cotton dust or lint in the air of the weaving mills.

To make the bed - To neaten or arrange the bed linens in a pleasing fashion. Originally referred literally to constructing (sewing) the mattress and bed linens.

To needle - To (metaphorically) poke at or prick someone, as one pricks a cloth when sewing.

To tie up loose ends - To complete all details of a given task. Comes from sailing ship's; the ends of the ropes used in a ship's rigging had to be tightly bound so they would not fray ... (Gordon, 2013, p.22).

REFERENCE

​Gordon, B. (2013 [2011] ) Textiles. The whole story - uses, meaning, significance. London: Thames and Hudson.