From: Gretchen Miller Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 16:41:44 -0400 (EDT) Subject: H-Costume Digest, Volume 158, 10/5/94 The Historic Costume List Digest, Volume 158, October 5, 1994 Send items for the list to h-costume@andrew.cmu.edu (or reply to this message). Send subscription/deletion requests and inquiries to h-costume-request@andrew.cmu.edu Note: Please dont' continue the "authenticity" arguments; the digest is several days behind the regular list, and this "discussion" has already caused enough heat and bad feelings. Thanks! Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------- Topics: Question and answers: Slang "Yellow = cowardice" Question and answers:Historical American Costume Ellis Island Museum Address ------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 14:54:20 -0700 From: Alison Kondo Subject: slang question I'm not sure if this is actually a costuming question, but I was wondering if the connection between the colour (or word) "yellow" & cowardice had its origins in a clothing source. I remember hearing "yellow-bellied coward" or "you're a coward with a yellow stripe down your back" as a child, I haven't found an explanation in the slang dictionaries. Alison ------------------------------------- From: Cyberpumpkin Subject: re: slang question Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 21:16:42 -0600 (MDT) Alison asked about yellow coming from clothing? I don't know about that, or where it fits in the timeline, but in Shakespeare's "twelth night or what you will" they talk a guy into wearing his hose "yellow and cross-gartered" which was the mark of an idiot, or at least a crazy fool..... *shrug* -terri -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to the silence of the breaking of my heart -the mission I'll bring you flowers, and place them on your grave -the mission ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 10:36:02 -0400 (EDT) From: "K.C. Kozminski" Subject: Yellow question This may be really reaching, but I've been reading Corson's "Fashions in Make-up". He cites yellow ochre as a fashionable body-make-up in ancient times (ie Egyptian, Summerian, Babylonian), but only for women, men usually (not always) wore a deeper rust-colored make-up. Maybe yellow-tinted skin was considered femine, therefore, to their thinking, cowardly? We've come a long way baby! Like I said, this reference is probably too obscure, but it was a thought. KC Don't think of it as aging, think of it as "Attaining Mythic Stature" kc/Roen who is, herself ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 10:45:35 -0400 (EDT) From: (Resent, and address got lost) Subject: American Historic Costume Hello! I'm a member of CSA and an associate proffesor of Mukogawa Women's University in Japan. I'm researching historic costume, especially that of America from 17th century to 19th century. My particular concerns are as follows. How the colonists, who were not so rich, got materials oftheir clothings and how they made them? What was the characteristics of the costumes of New Netherland and New York colony? I'm wrinting a paper on this thesis. I would like to get informations about books, dissertations and photographs on above theses. Lastly I would like to know the address of the Ellis Island Museum" close to Statute of Liberty. I look foward to receive useful informations and advices. And I'll appreciate you for your kindness. ------------------------------------- Subject: Re: slang question Date: Tue, 27 Sep 94 08:33:46 PDT From: Walter Nelson -- Your message was: (from "Cyberpumpkin") Alison asked about yellow coming from clothing? I don't know about that, or where it fits in the timeline, but in Shakespeare's "twelth night or what you will" they talk a guy into wearing his hose "yellow and cross-gartered" which was the mark of an idiot, or at least a crazy fool..... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - I think the yellow hose are not specifically the mark of an idiot, they are just the garish attire of a devil-may-care bachelor. There is a song from the same era, called "Bring me my yellow hose again", in which the singer complains about his shrewish wife, and wishes he were free again. In the context of the play however, the yellow hose of the young gallant on an old curmugeon like Malvolio, do mark him for a fool. The cross garterings are simply a silly and impractical fashion which Olivia particularly despises, and which therefore add to the overall effect of foolishness. As to the term "yellow" meaning cowardice, I can only speculate. I think it is an Americanism. Any English folks on the net encounter it in a British context? Wild and unsubstantiated speculations follow: Yellow: A term for a person of mixed race (e.g. The yellow rose of Texas). Yellow: The branch of service color of the US Cavalry from the Civil War on--a group which the infantry thought did not do their fair share of fighting ("I ain't never seen a dead cavalryman") Cheers, --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walter Nelson | INSERT PITHY WITTICISM HERE RAND | walter_nelson@rand.org | ___________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 11:51:22 -0500 (CDT) From: Helen Mayo Subject: Re: slang question For me, this is neat...something a librarian can contribute to. :) On Tue, 27 Sep 1994, Walter Nelson wrote: > As to the term "yellow" meaning cowardice, I can only speculate. I think > it is an Americanism. Any English folks on the net encounter it in a > British context? > > Wild and unsubstantiated speculations follow: > > Yellow: A term for a person of mixed race (e.g. The yellow rose of Texas). > > Yellow: The branch of service color of the US Cavalry from the Civil > War on--a group which the infantry thought did not do their fair share of > fighting ("I ain't never seen a dead cavalryman") > I checked in the Oxford English Diectionary, which cites the earliest use of words, and found the use of the term "yeller-bellies" from 1856 : "I've a mighty puncheon, as the Frenchman say, to hev a crack at them yeller-bellies." and then adds the footnote that says Yellow Belly was a name given by Western hunters and soldiers of the U.S. A. to Mexicans. The Dictionary of Americanisms also cites a phrase froma book from P.T. Barnum equating "yellow" with cowardice. It sounds like this connotation is American in origin. It was interesting that the OED cited yellow, and yellow hose as associated with jealousy during the early 1600's, such as in 1607 a quote "Jealous men are eyther Knaues or Coxcomes, bee you neither: you weare yellow hose without cause." (Although to me, the cite could as easily mean the yellow is for Coxcombs) and there's a cite from Fatal Dowry in 1632 that says that "If my Lord Bee now growne yellow" means grown jealous. Well, back to medical reference questions, but the clothing one was fun. ------------------------------------- From: JLIEDL@nickel.laurentian.ca Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 17:26:32 -0500 (EST) Subject: Yellow's significance Well, in the sixteenth century they were still following medieval colour theory (from armorial bearings/i.e. family crests/shields). Almost all of the colours, thus, had positive spins. So as a 1583 English publication, _A Rare True and Proper Blazon of Coloures and Ensignes Military with theyr Peculiar Signification_ is quoted in Jane Ashelford's _Dress in the Age of Elizabeth I_ for colour theory then. An excerpt: "yellow, hope, joy, magnanimity; russet, prudence; yellow-red, deception; green, love joy. . . ." [pg 102] Notice that non-heraldic colours (such as yellow-red) could be assigned less stellar qualities as they wouldn't appear in anyone's arms and thus p*** them off at the herald. Perhaps the significance of yellow for cowardice might be more recent. According to my Compact OED the term "Yellow-belly" applied to people originated in the 19th c. American west--an epithet applied by US soldiers and hunters to Mexicans. Perhaps they wanted to downplay or attack the Mexicans' "manhood" as well and "Yellow-belly" took on a second meaning of cowardice (in addition to mere identification). 'Nough of the pontificating. Back to your regularly scheduled costuming. -------------------------------- Janice Liedl, Dept. of History "History is the fiction we invent to jliedl@nickel.laurentian.ca persuade ourselves that events are Laurentian University knowable and that life has order and Sudbury, Ontario direction." -- Calvin and Hobbes -------------------------------- ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 17:08:34 -0700 From: Alison Kondo Subject: Hist.American Costume I don't know if this will help, but "Rural Pennsylvania Clothing" a Study of the Wearing Apparel of the German and English Inhabitants, both Men and Women who resided in Pennsylvania in the Late 18th and Early 19th Century. by Ellen J. Gehret George Shumway Publisher, York, Pennsylvania, 1976, has an extensive bibliography of colonial sources plus photos & construction notes about original period garments in Pennsylvania museums. (It also includes scale patterns & sewing notes for costumed docents at historic sites, or historical re-enactors.). Most of the garments shown are middle class or rural wear, not the formal town styles. I'd recommend this one for its sources because they are specific to the area, rather than general historic clothing texts. Alison ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 17:10:57 -0700 From: Alison Kondo Subject: slang thanks Thanks for the replies to my "yellow" question. It's been interesting reading. I hadn't realized the variety of applications of that colour through history. Alison ------------------------------------- From: "Lassman, Linda" Subject: Re: Yellow Date: Tue, 27 Sep 94 10:50:00 PDT Well, checking the OED, the A.2. meaning for "yellow" means "Affected with jealousy, jealous (Cf. Jaundiced 3.) Also in allusive phrases, as _to wear yellow hose_ = to be jealous. _Obs._", with citations from 1602 - 1858. Then in the supplement in the back, it adds A.2.b., "yellow" meaning "cowardly" dating from 1896. Given the association with jaundiced, I would suspect it has something to do with the 4 humours. (Is yellow bile? I'm not up on these!) - Linda Lassman Winnipeg, Manitoba ---------------- ------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 09:18:41 +0800 (WST) From: Anne Casey Subject: Re: slang question Yellow has a connotation in Australia of cowardice; I've never thought of it as an Americanism, so it must have come into Australia very early, possibly during the Gold Rush (i.e. 1860's - 1880's). A lot of American miners (and Chinese) came here then. This leads me to the other (mostly outdated or illegal) connotation - the 'Yellow Peril' or the 'Yellow Hordes'. You only have to look at Australia's position on the map to realise why early this century WASP Australians started to get paranoid about Asia. Gravity and all that - there are very silly looking political cartoons from the period of hordes of monstrous looking Asians literally falling out of Asia onto Australia. Regarding Malvolio - I've always seen him as a fashion victim - the modern equivalent would be a middle aged guy wearing 12" high platform sneakers to attract a much younger woman - trying to look trendy, but failing utterly! /anne....... ------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 27 Sep 1994 20:52:57 -0700 From: "Sarah E. Goodman -- unless it's Clint Bigglestone" Subject: Re: Yellow Can anyone push the information back on this a step and determine WHY Mexican soldiers were called "yellow bellied"? I have a strong suspicion that this ties in to their uniforms, but all we've only got information on U.S. Uniforms of the period here. ------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 07:41:15 CST From: SANDY STAEBELL Subject: ELLIS ISLAND ADDRESS The 1993 directory for the American Association of Museums lists the address of the Ellis Island Museum as Liberty Island, New York, NY 10004; 212/363-7620. It also lists the curator of collections as Felice Ciccone. SLS ------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Yellow Date: Wed, 28 Sep 94 08:32:10 PDT From: Walter Nelson -- Your message was: (from ""Sarah E. Goodman -- unless it's Clint Biggleston e"") Can anyone push the information back on this a step and determine WHY Mexican soldiers were called "yellow bellied"? I have a strong suspicion that this ties in to their uniforms, but all we've only got information on U.S. Uniforms of the period here. ------------------ Mexican uniforms were patterned on the French Napoleonic model, and therefore were predominately blue. Some units also wore white fatigue uniforms or green coats. There were some interesting local uniforms, but I am unaware of any that were actually yellow. I think the term is primarily racial. "Yellow" was a term used to refer to mulatos, and it is not surprising that our enlightened and racially tolerant ancestors used the same epithet to apply to Mexicans. The Mexican Army, BTW, had performed rather poorly in the Mexican War, due primarily to incompetent leadership, but it is therefore very plausible that "yellow" and "coward" should be linked--most likely by those who never actually had to fight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walter Nelson | INSERT PITHY WITTICISM HERE RAND | walter_nelson@rand.org | ___________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 12:22:41 -0400 (EDT) From: "K.C. Kozminski" Subject: Re: American Historic Costume Don't think of it as aging, think of it as "Attaining Mythic Stature" kc/Roen who is, herself On Tue, 27 Sep 1994, Gretchen Miller wrote: What was the characteristics > of the costumes of New Netherland and New York colony? I'm wrinting a > paper on this thesis. > Try to contact the Staten Island historical society, and the Richmondtown Restoration on Staten Island, NY (You can find their address via gopher) Many Ellis Island era imigrants edded up in Staten Island, because that is where the hospital for those not healthy enough to pass customs was located. There was a large Dutch colony (the name was actually Staaten Island) established in Staten Island that I belive dates back to the 18th century, later people from the Netherlands resided there as well (including my husband's direct ancestors). Bingo! I just found the address you're looking for (I've been purusing magazines while posting this): Diana Pardue, Cheif of Museum Services Statue of Liberty National Monument, Liberty Island, New York, NY 10004 This Address is from the time when Ellis Island was under repairs, but I'm sure they can forward your inquiries to the right person if they no longer handle Ellis Island'd mail. I hope this helps! KC ---------------------------- End of Volume 158 -----------------------