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Thread: Help me in English language!

  1. #1
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    Help me in English language!

    What I always wanted to know:
    If you put a thing on your head, when is it called a cap and when is it a hat? I remember having read about "woolen hats" as in knitted. A thing like that in Germany would be a cap (Kappe or Mütze).
    However a stiff thing like what today's adorable COTD is wearing would be a hat (Hut).
    A baseball hat would always be a cap and never a hat.
    I feel that things are sorted differently in English. Looking forward to an intense discussion about top-of-head ornaments

  2. #2
    I think of a cap as something more casual than a hat.

    Baseball caps are something I think should be worn with the eyeshade shading the eyes instead of the nap of the neck...but that is a whole different discussion.

  3. #3
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    Barbara I have to congratulate you (and anyone!) who tries to comprehend the English language! It is sometimes a struggle for us for whom it is our native tongue! LOL! That said, I think that something that is sort of "form fitting" on the head might qualify as a cap, while a hat might be more of what Today's Cat is wearing, even though we call it a cap (as in a cap and gown). See what I mean about our language! LOL!

    Quote Originally Posted by Edwina's Secretary View Post

    Baseball caps are something I think should be worn with the eyeshade shading the eyes instead of the nap of the neck...but that is a whole different discussion.

    Agree! LOL!

  4. #4
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    A cap, to me, is the lid for a pen or other object. An item worn on the head is always a hat to me. But I do not speak perfect English, AT ALL! There's probably some errors in this post.
    Our goal in life should be - to be as good a person as our dog thinks we are.

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  5. #5
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    I have always thought that a cap was something with a skip, the kind of thing schoolboys wore in the dim and distant past. I can't find a proper picture, only this kind of thing from a fancy dress site.

  6. #6
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    To further complicate matters, what today's Cat of the Day is wearing is called a mortarboard - but colloquially known as a graduation cap.

    Hat and cap are somewhat interchangeable, but as Sara mentioned, a cap is generally less formal.

    The Queen mum, for example, wore hats. Prince Charles often dons a cap.

    And a baseball cap, when worn facing front, makes a great hands-free umbrella for one's eyeglasses!
    I've Been Frosted

  7. #7
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    I think that cap and hat are often the same as in baseball cap or hat. I usually look at any head cover as being a HAT and in some cases is also a cap. If you are wearing a Bowler it is always a hat. Same would go for a TOP or Derby Hat. I think more confusing would be the words pants and trousers. It depends on what the purpose is for their use. Like you would never refer to blue jeans as trousers, or you would not refer to the bottom of a TUX as pants, but of course you could and
    that would be ok

  8. #8
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    cap : (a) head covering especially with a visor and no brim (think of the Tweed caps associated with Ireland) (b) : a distinctive head covering emblematic of a position or office, for example a nurse's cap or motorboard

    hat: a covering for the head usually having a shaped crown and brim, for example a derby hat or cowboy hat.

    Thanks to Merriam Webster!

    When you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. Mark Twain

  9. #9
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    I am very grateful that an explanation for pants and trousers is also included- that's another one.
    Here everything like a cowboy hat, a Homburg, a trilby and a bowler would also be hats- but baseball caps would never. So the English hat invades the territory of the German cap- but basically it's the same difference

    Killearn Karen: what you are talking about- would it be that classical thing made of Harris Tweed that has a short hard visor which is mainly hidden by the rest of the cap?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Barbara View Post
    Killearn Karen: what you are talking about- would it be that classical thing made of Harris Tweed that has a short hard visor which is mainly hidden by the rest of the cap?
    No Barbara, that is a bunnet!

  11. #11
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    Interesting topic... I always wondered about that pants/trousers thing myself!

    Kirsten

  12. Quote Originally Posted by Killearn Kitties View Post
    No Barbara, that is a bunnet!
    No, no! It's a newsboy cap!

    And only men wear trousers. Women wear pants or slacks!

  13. #13
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    Well, how interesting. I have always thought that Americans referred to all trousers as pants. I just thought that that was what they called them.

  14. #14
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    WOW!!! That is a loaded, but fun, question to say the least. The English language has a million different names for the same thing.

    I always call something a cap like a baseball cap or a ball cap. There is a visor attached to all of them.
    A hat is anything else. Pillbox hat, cowboy hat, top hat, etc. This is just the way I see it and I'm sure there are many other ways to see it.


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    Thanks Barry!

  15. #15
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    And only men wear trousers. Women wear pants or slacks!
    Wow, really? Another interesting thing I have learned today!

    Thanks!

    Kirsten

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