The Cold Shoulder and Other Fun Terms

The old cold shoulder

Yesterday we spoke of the new "cold shoulders" in fashion.  Now let's discuss the term in its historical context.

I'm not sure I ever have used the phrase "cold shoulder" in speech or, before yesterday, in writing, but my previous understanding always accorded with its definition in the American Heritage Dictionary.

To “give someone the cold shoulder” is to ignore someone deliberately: 

“At the party, Carl tried to talk to Suzanne, but she gave him the cold shoulder.” 

This term has a long history.  Before the 19th century, English scholars speculated that its origin suggested that hosts would greet favored guests with a hot meal but that less welcome visitors would be served "the cold shoulder," presumably of mutton.  Admittedly, such a cold shoulder does sound unappetizing.

But etymologists -- experts in word derivations -- have for many generations rejected this as unsubstantiated folklore.

Extensive research has concluded that Sir Walter Scott was the first writer to use the term, and in fact used it twice, in two of his lesser novels. 

Here is the first reference, from "The Antiquary," published in 1816:

"The Countess’s dislike didna gang farther at first than just showing o’ the cauld shouther".

Anyone who has read any Shakespeare can deduce the meaning here.  (And, yes, it has been established that, for Scott, "shouther" meant shoulder.)

Eight years later, in "St. Ronan's Well," Scott affirmed the meaning of the term with this:

"I must tip him the cold shoulder, or he will be pestering me eternally."

Ergo, the word experts say, Scott invented the phrase.  Personally, I wonder; obviously it is possible to track down printed expressions in surviving texts, but previous common usage in speech cannot be deduced because there are no records to examine.  

Anyway, the phrase went viral, at least in nineteenth century terms, appearing several times in Charles Dickens' writings and jumping the pond to appear in a letter to the editor in The Bangor (Maine) Daily Whig and Courier in 1839:

'... eminent individuals and his cabinet advisers turned "the cold shoulder" 

to their ambassador, for his independent act upon this occasion.'   

So there.  

But the whole meaning of the term flipped nearly 200 years later, probably when one or several fashion editors applied it more literally, to describe garments with bared shoulders, as in, if you wear a such a shirt outdoors in November, your shoulders will be cold.   

From there it was off to the races (an idiomatic expression meaning, sometimes, a trend gaining in popularity) and now everybody, or at least every fashion follower knows the meaning.  This description has replaced the 200-year-old one, at least for the moment. 

Sic transit gloria grammatica.

(Note:  I am beholden to the phrases.org.uk website for its discussion of the evolution of the phrase "cold shoulder.")

Words of the Moment

English is an unusually elastic language, particularly American vernacular.  In the last century we have learned that "Twenty-three skidoo" means to leave an event hastily, that "Jumping the shark" means going too far with an idea or theme and that IMHO, AFAIK and other acronyms are shorteners for generally understood text messages.  New words seem to be coined on a daily basis, and perhaps more often than that.

Just yesterday I learned this new one: "stan," which seems to be a mashup, as in, STalker+fAN=STAN.  A stan is someone obsessed with a particular celebrity, and by celebrity I use the term loosely to indicate someone who is famous but not necessarily for any particular reason.

I also learned that the word can function as a verb.  In this usage, a stan may decide to "unstan" a previously favored celebrity.  

This happened when a major Kendall Jenner stan decided to unstan the model/whatever on Twitter at the first of this month.  You can follow the very, very long thread of support for the unstanning if you wish.  I haven't spent much time thinking about Kendall Jenner myself, but this event has rocketed around the world, gathering news coverage from here to South Africa and many places in between.  

It appears that all the cool kids are giving poor Kendall Jenner the cold shoulders, and I don't mean sweaters with holes in them.

Cold Shoulders in Fashion

Here is a new piece from the Donna Karan New York fashion line.  It is a knit top with what are called "cold shoulders."  The name describes the skin exposed by cutouts between the tops of the sleeves and the body of the shirt.  

This look is now very popular, as you can see from a few of the many cold-shouldered offerings in this year's Nordstrom Sale catalog, which previews fall and winter trends. 

Other fashion retailers are trying catch the cold-shoulder wave by attaching the term to somewhat different looks, including the ones below.

The distinction to be made here is that these are not so new.  Single-shoulder and off-shoulder women's clothes have been around forever.  

For my purposes, cold shoulders are knit shirts and dresses with two cut-out shoulders.

And Donna Karan started the whole thing 25 years ago.

Donna Karan and Cold-Shoulder History

Karan broke out as the designer of the moment in the late 1980s with an urbane New York aesthetic -- low-key, cool and sophisticated -- that offered a stylish look to career women who were sick of boxy suits and who also wanted clean-lined evening clothes without silly frills and furbelows.  Karan has remained true to that view ever since.  As a fashion figure, she remains a big influencer. 

Here, from 1992, is possibly the first cold-shoulder look, a Karan number worn by super model Christy Turlington.

HIllary Clinton wore a similar Karan dress for a White House gala in the early 1990s. 

Then the cold-shoulder thing seemed to disappear.

Twenty years later, Karan took it up again, as seen in this photo promoting her fall winter 2013-2014 collection.  (The picture is from a series shot by Mikael Jansson. It features a model visiting a hunky sculptor's studio at night.  Very Karan, that.)

Also in 2013, Karan released this gown.

This time around, the cold shoulder look captured the public imagination and provoked imitations.  

Here, for instance, is Lena Dunham wearing a cold-shoulder dress at a 2015 event to kick off the fourth season of her popular HBO television show, "Girls."

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this dress was not designed by Donna Karan. (My guess is that some stylist told Dunham that vertical stripes would look good on her and that Dunham perhaps took the advice too much to heart.)

So cold shoulders are popular now.  One retailer ventured a reason why that may be so:

"The shoulder is the only part of a woman's body that doesn't age."

That may be true, but I'm not buying it in this case.  I've been seeing more and more cold shoulders lately, particularly in the three airports I visited (twice) on a recent weekend.  The women wearing those shirts and dresses were mostly young and won't be worrying about aging body parts for at least 20 years.

At the moment, cold shoulders are new and a little different but not in a wacky way.  They're a way to update a wardrobe of plain-vanilla shirts, sweaters and basic dresses.

My personal advice:  Go ahead, and invest in this trend.  Choose something knit and in a normal color, and wear it often for the next year or so.  

Then we'll be on to something else.  

Next: Cold Shoulder Etymology