[ANSTHRLD] A Bardic Thistle?

[Jay Rudin]

Tim McDaniel wrote:

> Hmmm.  Except I'm not wearing a "costume" at an event: I'm wearing (a
> (poor) attempt at) medieval European clothing.

Actually, yes you are.  "Costume" is merely the clothes appropriate to a 
given occasion.  (The root word is "custom".)  The objection to the term 
"costume" isn't that it didn't originally mean "clothes", but that it didn't 
exist in our period, having come into use in the late 18th century.

Secondarily, since the clothing worn for a play set in a given period is 
properly termed "costume", it has come to mean "fake clothes", but that's a 
modern, secondary meaning  from the 19th century (although it has become the 
most common meaning in the late 20th / early 21st century.)

> For a Sable Thistle,
> "Clothing" probably suffices (if it's OK to imply both making and
> wearing it), but for a revel announcement, "wear clothing" isn't an
> accurate substitute for "wear garb".

What you want to say is "wear appropriate clothing", which is stated 
properly in English as "wear a costume."

> ... but for a revel announcement, "wear clothing" isn't an
> accurate substitute for "wear garb".

Nonetheless, it is appears to be a requirement, at least at the revels I 
attend.

(I am reminded that at her third Queen's Champion, Queen Rowan announced 
that she was having a midnight swim, "scarves only".  She resisted all of 
our efforts to determine if that was an invitation list or a dress code.)

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin