Comments on: Mormon Underwear, 1915

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:48:45 +0000

Maybe you should put up a poll, Ardis–if the author is unknown.

I think a woman wrote it.

If a man did, he should follow Henry V’s advice. (Act IV, scene iii, line 67.)

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:48:05 +0000

Michelle, the article is unsigned, but I believe the author was a woman.

By: Michelle Glauser

Michelle Glauser — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:24:56 +0000

Did a man write this? That’s what I want to know.

By: John Mansfield

John Mansfield — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:56:22 +0000

“One who knows anything about the garment knows it was never intended to be publicly displayed”

Ezra Taft Benson’s talk “What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children about the Temple” comes to mind. He moved into his topic by remembering the sight of his mother ironing her temple robes, not many years before 1915, him asking what she was doing, and her setting down the iron to talk with him about the temple. Somewhat ironically, I suspect that talk is the only place the phrase “temple robes” has ever appeared in the Ensign.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:05:00 +0000

I found and corrected two typos (one of which was only a missing third dot in an ellipsis) — if there are typos giving problems in understanding, point them out and I’ll correct them instanter (that’s true with every post. I welcome whatever help I can get with this one-woman publishing operation).

My experience is like Marjorie’s: “garments” — plural — is the way people speak of the physical clothing pieces (whether one-piece or two-). But “the garment” — singular, with definite article — is also a very common term when speaking formally of the meaning or purpose of the clothing.

By: Marjorie Conder

Marjorie Conder — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:32:51 +0000

They have always been called garments in my experience (even when my parents talked about them) and I have lived through a lot of one-piece years.

By: Mina

Mina — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:00:22 +0000

I would like to point out that my current wardrobe is filled with dolor, obtrusive and unobtrusive.

Typos aside, this article is filled with charming reticence. I love phrases like, “a hospital experience” and “unpleasant comment from a certain class of people on the street.”

Were garments always called garments? What I mean is, I just realized that the term has never really changed much, has it? People would not say “the garment” now, they would use the plural in all cases. Does this reflect the change from a one to two piece construction? Or just historical colloquialism?