We talked about the word "doff" (as in doffing one's cap) being a contraction of "do off" the other day on the podcast, and someone pointed out that its opposite, "don," is also similarly a contraction of "do on." Amazing!
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Huh. I always thought "don" was the proper word for putting something on, and "doff" was the playful negation of don. Never knew they were contractions. I do off my cap to you!
What’s also cool is that these words were kind of quaint and archaic until a resurgence of use in the last five years, in the healthcare field, to refer to the ubiquity of PPE and the donning and doffing thereof.
Healthcare (I think) took the usage from employment law, which has for decades had to consider whether or not employees should be paid for the time they spend doffing their street clothes and donning uniforms or special equipment.
So archaic or niche technical words are revitalized to provide a more efficient way of saying a thing that people suddenly start saying a lot. Language is neat.
“Doffer” was also a job not too long ago: they remove/doff the bobbins/spindles on carding machines (also a machine part that doffs/strips cotton/wool from the cards).
I’m not sure “don” was ever antiquated, but “doff” certainly had that quaint feel for a few decades when hats grew less ubiquitous.
Pretty sure the only things I’ve casually donned are gay apparel (at Yuletide) and PPE since covid.
I think don as a verb stuck around more than doff in part because of the traditional Christmas carol lyrics. This is pure speculation on my part of course.
I told my manager about “Junny buns” she had no idea what I was talking about. I’m in West Yorkshire UK. My partner who’s Mancunian didn’t know eiðer. But it’s just an affectionate phrase for ðe animal “rabbit” apparently google had never heard of it eiðer & it’s just someþing I’ve heard all my life
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The world shapes language. Language is cool.
I’m not sure “don” was ever antiquated, but “doff” certainly had that quaint feel for a few decades when hats grew less ubiquitous.
I think don as a verb stuck around more than doff in part because of the traditional Christmas carol lyrics. This is pure speculation on my part of course.