Tuesday, August 6, 2013

What Are 'Dungarees'?

Dungaree: Coarse, thick twill-weave cotton fabric, often colored blue. Derived from "Dongri," a village near Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). Often thought synonymous as denim, but the coloring method differs. Dungaree is colored before weaving, denim after.

I'd heard the word used off and on when I was younger, not so much today. In fact, other than the Pickles comic strip above, the last time I heard it was when I was editor of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply employee newsletter and was trying to identify a worker in a picture I took so I could mention his name in the caption.

The section chief picked up his phone and called one of the supervisors to confirm if the man in the picture ("the one wearing dungarees") was indeed John Doe (name changed to protect the innocent).

The word then entered my realm of "Never to be Heard Of Again." Now why in the world do I still remember that incident?

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