Little Things: clothing

The little things here are what get to me: they’re what make me appreciate being here and at the same time make this absolutely not home. Swimming on the left-hand side of the lane, hot and cold water taps on every sink, every store closing promptly at 5pm, doors that open from the opposite direction, TK Max, mayonnaise on my salad (lettuce salad, not the picnic tuna salad or potato salad, either), girls dressing in Halloween costumes at dance clubs (seriously: bunnies, nurses, multicolored wigs, the works), . . . the list goes on. Just yesterday, my friend and floormate Fluf (real name Chris—lives down 4 rooms away from me; is in his first year of university study yet is 29 years old; has been vegan for 9 years, vegetarian for 15; likes watching documentaries and reading science fiction) told me he had bought several new jumpers. Logically deducing that he probably had not bought himself a handful of dresses, I asked him exactly what the word “jumper” meant to him. He picked a sweater off of the floor and held it out to me. When I informed him that I would call that a sweater, he told me a sweater is more of what he would label what I was wearing. I looked down at my University of Rochester hoodie and said well, that would be more of a sweatshirt. He smiled pityingly and asked what, then, the difference was. I tried to explain that sweaters were knitted and fuzzy, while sweatshirts were more like thick T-shirts, but I grew embarrassed and frustrated as I realized that the slight variation in words (sweatshirt and sweater) really did not account for the significant difference in the clothing at all.

Our conversation progressed, and I asked him why no one in England seems to wear sweatshirts (or “hoodies,” as I decided to term my apparel, since we agreed upon that term). He kind of glanced at me sideways and said, “Because we tend to associate them with gangs.” I almost fell off of my chair. I have worn a hoodie every single day since I have arrived in England. Noting my horror, Fluf added that usually the association was with the hood up.

Mental note: keep hood down, particularly when entering buildings.

Who would have thought, me, studious little WASPy me, giving gang signs in Great Britain. Woody High, eat your heart out.