Woolly. pully, jumper, sweater

It was a little bit chilly last night, and as we set off to the pub I offered one of our guests a jumper; she is Dutch and speaks excellent, almost faultless English, but for a moment she was not sure what I was suggesting, and then she said “Oh, you mean a cardigan?” I replied that a cardigan or cardi had buttons or a zip up the front and what I meant was a pullover, a sweater, a jersey, a woolly… by which time she realised what I was getting at and said, no, thank you, she was all right, she had her vest… By which she meant she had a jacket not some warm, sleeveless underwear.

I got to thinking about how confusing it must be for people learning English as a second, or third language, because for every word there seems several alternatives. So… a woollen or knitted or other sometimes fabric outer garment to keep a person warm:

• pullover – so-called because it is pulled over your head
• pully – short form of pullover
• woolly – often made from wool
• jersey – originally made in the Channel islands on Jersey
• guernsey – originally from Guernsey
• gansy –  a corruption of Guernsey, and particularly a garment made for fishermen, to keep them snuggly and warm in horrid weather
• sweater – originally knitted garments, made thick so a person would sweat and so lose weight ( a sweatshirt is made from cotton or synthetic material and is not a sweater)
• jumper – may be derived from a word meaning short coat, maybe related to Scottish/French jupe, or Arabic  jubba
• a shrug isn’t really a jumper in my opinion; it is a very short knitted garment which just covers the very top of your chest and your shoulders, and also it usually has short sleeves
• a tank top, although knitted and keeps  you warm, has no sleeves (and honestly, who on earth would wear one these days?) and could possibly be described as a knitted waistcoat – except maybe a waistcoat implies that it is buttoned or fastened up the front

In case you were looking for a particular jumper, you might want to describe its neckline as polo, turtle, roll, or crew… so many choices!

http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Research/Collections/Social_History_Collections/Maritime/Fishermens_Ganseys/index.htm