Posted
on April 3, 2015
This
is one of those confusing “holidays.” Every website I consulted
claimed that this must surely be celebrating the medium-to-heavy
weight cloth called tweed...but that another possible reason
for the holiday is that it is the birthday of the most notorious U.S.
politician of all time, “Boss” Tweed.
But
who would want to celebrate a crooked politician?
 |
| "Boss" Tweed helped give Democrats and all politicians a bad name! |
Boss
Tweed was born William Magear Tweed, in New York City, on this date
in 1823. He ripped off from taxpayers something between 25 million
and 200 million dollars (pretty big range!) through money-laundering,
profit sharing, and other sorts of political corruption. He was
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852 and to the New
York State Senate in 1867, but most of his power-grubbing came from
him serving on committees, boards, and commissions. He controlled to
a shockingly great extent who ran for office and who won, and he
handed out jobs to loyal voters.
Aaannndddd...he
died in jail. Even though Tweed's corruptive touch reached even the
courts, he was convicted of some of his wrong-doings in 1877, and he
died a year later at age 55.
And
now for the nicer tweed...
Of
course we like the cloth better than a crooked politician!
This
rough woolen fabric is linked to Scotland, Ireland, and the British
people in general. It's thick enough to withstand a harsh climate,
and it is often worn for outdoor activities such as shooting and
hunting.
Scholars
think that the name tweed came from the Scottish word for twill
(which is a kind of weaving characterized by a diagonal pattern); the
Scottish word for twill is tweel. A London merchant
misread the name (documents were generally in cursive writing) and
thought it must be a brand name named after the Scottish river Tweed.
And
from that one misunderstanding arose a name we use to this day!
Here
are a few samples of tweed:
 |
| Glen plaid |
 |
| Houndstooth |
 |
| Herringbone |
1) looks very British, like Sherlock Holmes and Downton Abbey...
 |
| Two of my favorite British-fictional-characters who wear tweed are Matthew Crawley, above, and Sherlock Holmes, below. |
2)
can make you look smart-as-in-intelligent AND smart-as-in-fashion
forward...
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
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