Atlantica - 01.11.2002, Side 10

Funny Old Word: Denim/Jeans
You’ve just spent a small fortune on a new pair of low cut denim jeans, the
ones that fit snug just below the hips and are the new fashion rage.
Before revving up the charge card, I imagine that the origin of the words
denim and jean never crossed your mind.
Well, here is some helpful information to relay to the pushy salespeople next
week when the fashion changes, and a new pair of must-buy denim jeans are
on that shopping list.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the two words for the same fabric derive
from the names of two different places. Denim – a “hard-wearing cotton twill
fabric” – comes from the French, serge de Nimes, meaning a kind of serge
from the manufacturing town of Nîmes. Oddly enough, jean – a “heavy twilled
cotton cloth” – takes its origin from Old French Janne (now Gênes), the French
word for Genoa, the place of original production. How’s that for a coincidence?
Two different towns. One hard-wearing, heavy twilled, cotton fabric.
I know, it’s as confusing as are all the different brand names on sale. Keep it
simple. Stick to Levi’s 501s. EWIL
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You’re in downtown Boston and if you
don’t stop walking the crowded ‘Freedom
Trail’ soon, you will consume one too many bags of those roasted
honey-covered peanuts and develop a stomach ache. Time to
escape to the serenity of a museum. Jump on the Green Line’s E
train, hop off at the museum stop, and you’ll be at the epicentre of
Boston’s art scene: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Located at 465 Huntington Avenue, in the heart of the historic
Fenway District, the MFA has a permanent collection ranging from
Egyptian sculptures to European paintings; a diverse range of
ever-changing exhibitions such as fibre art and Japanese minia-
ture sculpture; holds numerous lectures; shows films, and hosts
‘First Fridays’, complete with cocktails, tapas and assorted enter-
tainment on the first Friday of each month.
One exhibition of note is ‘Lens Landscapes’ (through 23 February),
a collection of roughly 80 photographs which examines the cre-
ative visions of various landscape photographers spanning gener-
ations, including Ansel Adams and such contemporary photogra-
phers as Toshio Shibata, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Adam Fuss. EW
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE MFA LOG ON TO WWW.MFA.ORG
airmail
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Fine Art
ALVIN LANGDON COBURN, AMERICAN, 1882–1966 / YOSEMITE FALLS, 1911 TONI SCHNEIDERS, GERMAN, BORN IN 1920 / LANDWEG IN KARNTEN, MAI 1957
007-016 ATL 602 Airmail 20.10.2002 10:28 Page 8