And lo on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:25:12 +0100, Tim Attwood  
<tim### [at] comcastnet> did spake, saying:

>> Interesting (to me) that Mike goes for Kerchief whereas you and the Doc  
>> go
>> for Headscarf, which would also have been my first answer; another case  
>> of
>> two languages forever separate?
>
> In the USA kerchiefs were mass produced with a typical western print
> pattern (in white), mostly in two variations, red and blue thin cotton
> cloth.
> Typical women's head-scarves are usually made of much finer materials.
> A number of years back kerchiefs came into style among inner-city
> gang members as way to mark their membership in a gang, and soon
> after most schools banned wearing kerchiefs as being "gang colors".

Oh yeah the Bloods and Crips thing I suppose.

> Since then I haven't seen many for sale. The cartoon lacks the print
> that would identify the scarf as a kerchief. Also jewish tradition has
> women wear head-scarves, so it might be a subtle visual clue that she
> is somehow "serious".

It might be that kerchiefs are larger handkerchiefs i.e. square whereas  
headscarfs are more rectangular?

> I would tend to think that the choice of
> wording between "head-scarf" and "kerchief" is probably more of
> an age thing than a language thing.

Oh gee thanks for that :-)

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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