Sticking?

by Geraden

On a hosiery forum, an enquirer asked about the word 'sticking', supposedly meaning 'wearing of tights/pantyhose by men'. He asked if anyone had heard of it, and no-one had.

Not surprisingly, because until then that meaning did not exist! Should there be such a word, though? In my opinion, no. I don't think we need a word for (men) wearing tights or pantyhose. To suggest we do, makes it seem that there is something special about it: as contrasted with, say, women wearing tights or pantyhose. There isn't anything special about it. Tights are clothing, and 'sticking' is just wearing.

However, in case this use of the word gets into the dictionaries in a few years time (stranger things have happened), remember you saw it here first!!!

Now for the explanation: 'sticking' is a literal translation of the French word collant, which also means 'tights' or 'pantyhose'. Someone had entered collant pour homme in an online translator and it came up with the phrase 'sticking for man'.

Languages are fascinating, and computers are fun, and just look what happens when you put the two together!

Here is another of my favourites: the German word for 'tights' is Feinstrumpfhosen. Translate that into English online, and you get 'purifying trunk trousers' !

And finally, because I am that sort of mood, here is something that you can try on your mobile phone. In predictive text mode, enter the name of the famous Vodka, Smirnoff. I won't spoil your fun this time.

If you enjoy languages, you might like to look at our list of words for 'tights' in different languages, and who knows, maybe add to it!