“The close community of the journeyman tailor was forged through generations of hardship, of long hours, miserable pay and discrimination of all kinds. Taking refuge among themselves, the tailors developed a private language almost incomprehensible to outsiders. Some of their expressions have survived in the daily dialogue of the tailor and his guv\u2019nor.”<\/p>\n
— Richard Walker in his peerless The Savile Row Story: An Illustrated History<\/em><\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Balloon, having a balloon – a week without work or pay.<\/p>\n Bodger – Crude worker. Common to other trades.<\/p>\n Boot – loan until payday. “Can you spare the boot?” – can you give me a loan? Dates from crossed-leg days, when a tailor recorded the loan by chalking it on the sole of his boot.<\/p>\n Bunce – a trade perk, like mungo and a crib (see below).<\/p>\n Bushelman – Journeyman who alters or repairs.<\/p>\n Cat\u2019s face – a small shop opened by a cutter starting out on his own.<\/p>\n Chuck a dummy – to faint. Allusion is to a tailor\u2019s dummy tumbling over.<\/p>\n Clapham Junction – a paper design draft with numerous alterations or additions.<\/p>\n Codger – Tailor who does up old suits.<\/p>\n Cork – the boss.<\/p>\n Crib – large scrap of cloth left over from a job, usually enough to make a pair of trousers or a skirt.<\/p>\n Crushed beetles – badly made button holes.<\/p>\n Cutting turf – clumsy, unskilled working.<\/p>\n Doctor – alteration tailor.<\/p>\n Drag, in the drag – working behind time.<\/p>\n Drummer – trouser-maker.<\/p>\n “Have you been on the board?” – are you experienced?<\/p>\n Hip stay – old-time name for wife.<\/p>\n Jeff – a small master: one who cuts out his garments and also makes them up.<\/p>\n Kicking – looking for another job.<\/p>\n Kicking your heels – no work to do.<\/p>\n Kill – a spoiled job that has to be thrown away.<\/p>\n Kipper – A tailoress. So called because they sought work in pairs to avoid unwelcome advances.<\/p>\n Log, on the log – piecework: the traditional and complex system of paying out-workers.<\/p>\n Mungo – cloth cuttings, which by custom the tailor used to retain to sell to a rag merchant for a little extra income.<\/p>\n On the cod – gone drinking.<\/p>\n Pig – an unclaimed garment.<\/p>\n Pigged – a lapel which turns up after some wear.<\/p>\n Pinked, pink a job – making with extra care.<\/p>\n Skiffle – a job needed in a hurry.<\/p>\n Skipping it – making the stitches too big<\/p>\n Small seams – warning call when someone being discussed enters workroom.<\/p>\n Soft sew – an easily worked cloth.<\/p>\n Tab – fussy, difficult customer.<\/p>\n Trotter – fetcher and carrier: messenger.<\/p>\n Tweed merchant – Tailor who does the easy work: a poor workman.<\/p>\n Whipping the cat – Travelling round and working in private houses: common practice in old days when a tailor would be given board and lodging while he made clothes for a family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “The close community of the journeyman tailor was forged through generations of hardship, of long hours, miserable pay and discrimination …
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